.JAN  17   1947  ^ 


BV    2766    .M7    T6    1903 

Tomkinson,  Laura  E.,  1844- 
Twenty  years'  history  of  th^ 
Woman's  home  missionary 


7^^.  yr   u^  JSc>4^^'^^^^Q.--^.yi^ 


PRESIDENT. 


OF  THE  WOMAN'S  HOME 
MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 
OF  THE  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 


1880  =  1900 


By    MRS.    T.     L .    T  O  M  K  I  N  S  O  N 


PUBLISHED   BY 

THE  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


CINCINNATI 
1903 


Copyright  by 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

1903 


Western  Methodist  Book  Conceru  Press 


^0  tbe  ©ooD  Momen 

OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  WHO 

BY  THEIR  ZEAL,  DEVOTION,  AND  FIDELITY, 

HAVE  BEEN  THE 

/IRahera  of  tbi9  1F3t0tor^, 

AND  TO  THEIR  WORTHY   SUCCESSORS,  WHO    IN 

THE  YEARS  TO  COME  SHALL  EMULATE 

THEIR  NOBLE  EXAMPLE, 

TLbC6C  Bnnala 

ARE  DEDICATED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 


INTRODUCTION 

J.  M.  BUCKI^EY,  D.  D. 

Not  to  introduce  a  Society  known  throughout 
the  United  States ;  nor  to  indorse  a  movement  which 
appeals  to  every  philanthropic  impulse ;  nor  yet  to 
commend  this  volume  did  I  accept  the  invitation  to 
prefix  a  few  paragraphs  to  this  "  Twenty  Years'  His- 
tory." But  I  complied  primarily  because  it  affords 
an  opportunity  to  emphasize  the  increasing  need  of 
work  similar  to  that  which  has  heretofore  been  done 
by  this  Society. 

Before  it  was  formally  initiated,  hearing  reports 
of  the  deep  distress  in  certain  Territories  of  the  Far 
West,  of  the  dense  ignorance  existing  among  the 
whites  in  various  sections  of  the  South,  being  ac- 
quainted by  personal  observation  with  the  childish 
simplicity  and  helplessness  of  the  majority  of  the 
Afro-American  populations,  having  become  cogni- 
zant of  the  deterioration  of  domestic  and  social  life, 
not  alone  under  the  shadow  of  Mormonism,  but 
among  foreign  populations  domiciled  in  this  country, 
and  of  the  awful  suffering  of  many  who  "  had  seen 


vi  Introduction 

better  days,"  but  who,  through  illness  and  misfor- 
tune, or  the  death  of  those  on  whom  they  had  de- 
pended, have  become  impoverished,  I  had  partici- 
pated in  a  conference  called  to  consider  how  the 
women  of  Methodism  might  co-operate  in  a  general 
scheme,  whose  benefits  should  be  widely  diffused. 
Gladly,  then,  did  I  receive  the  news  of  those  prelimi- 
nary steps  so  graphically  recounted  in  this  volume, 
and  later  recognized  the  complete  organization  when 
it  ofiBcially  offered  itself  as  a  new  instrument  of  serv- 
ice to  the  Church  and  to  humanity. 

In  reading  the  accounts  of  its  early  work  and  the 
rapid  spread  thereof;  of  its  numerous  Homes,  Hos- 
pitals, and  Schools,  the  reader  will  be  astonished  that 
so  much  has  been  accomplished  in  little  more  than 
two  decades. 

On  reflection  he  will  see  that  the  Society  has  been 
exceedingly  fortunate  in  its  leaders,  and  that  they 
have  been  happy  in  their  relations  to  the  member- 
ship; that  the  spirit  of  the  age  is  increasingly  in 
sympathy  with  alleviating  painful  and  distressing 
conditions  at  home  as  well  as  abroad.  Foreign  mis- 
sions and  Home  missions  are  so  related  that  when 
either  is  neglected,  of  the  Church  it  may  justly  be 
said,  "  These  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave 
the  other  undone." 

This  Society  has  passed  through  an  experience 


Introduction  vH 

which  has  befallen  every  organized  effort  to  reform 
and  elevate  mankind.  It  has  found  that  the  need 
which  stirred  it  into  being  was  but  an  outer  layer, 
underneath  which  are  illumined  depths  of  moral 
degeneracy  and  wretchedness.  Closely  allied  with 
these  strata  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
has  found  physical  weakness,  poverty,  and  disease, 
in  which  youth  sees  nothing  bright  and  age  sets  no 
worthy  example.  Bach  generation  newly  come  upon 
the  scene  includes  successors  of  those  who  were 
helped  and  of  those  who  died  without  having  had 
an  uplift;  besides  mau}^  well  born  who  sink  below 
their  ancestral  level,  often  through  causes  for  which 
society  and  sometimes  the  Church  is  responsible. 
Hence  the  Deaconess  Movement — a  form  of  phil- 
anthropic effort  known  in  the  earliest  century  of 
Christianity,  but  new  to  this  country  and  age — has 
been  engrafted  on  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society,  and  has  already  become  one  of  its  most 
fruitful  branches. 

Among  Protestant  communions  none  so  unmis- 
takably as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  needs 
such  assistance  as  this  Society  affords.  It  is  still 
the  Church  of  the  people  in  a  larger  degree  than 
any  other ;  its  members  constantly  flow  into  the 
cities;  many  of  them  migrate  Westward  and  South- 
ward ;  of  those  who  leave  the  places  of  their  nativity 


viii  Introduction 

a  certain  proportion  fail  through  sickness,  poverty 
or  misfortune,  and  in  the  second  generation  there  is 
found  but  an  indistinct  memory  of  Methodism.  To 
these  the  ministers  on  the  circuit  and  in  the  small 
stations  preach,  and  they  and  their  people  alike  re- 
ceive aid  from  the  beneficent  work  of  this  Society. 

These  allusions  to  the  conditions  which  the  Wo- 
man's Home  Missionary  Society  aims  to  remove  or 
mitigate  are  chiefly  designed  to  sharpen  the  appetite 
of  the  sympathetic  reader  for  the  comprehensive  and 
inspiring  account  of  the  spirit,  the  methods,  and  the 
achievements  of  devoted  women.  Their  beneficent 
work  will  never  be  finished  while  there  remain  in 
this  country  the  unlearned  in  the  ways  of  right  liv- 
ing to  be  instructed,  the  poor  to  be  fed  and  clothed, 
the  bereaved  to  be  comforted,  the  sick  to  be  nursed, 
and  the  inadequately  sustained  bearer  of  the  good 
tidings  of  the  gospel  of  peace  to  be  aided.  Upon 
them  and  upon  all  those  who  encourage  them  in 
their  holy  task  may  Heaven's  richest  blessings  de- 
scend ! 


Contents 


Hi 

CHAPTER  I 
BEG  I  IN  IN  I  INGS 

Germ  Thought,  i ;  After  the  Civil  War,  2 ;  Government  Aid 
to  Freedmen,  2;  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  3 ;  Conditions  Among  Colored 
People,  4;  Need  for  Home  Culture,  5;  Bishop  Wiley,  9; 
Movement  Begun  to  Introduce  Women  into  Board  of 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  11;  Its  Failure,  12. 

Mrs.  HartzeIvIv's  Work  in  New  Ori^Eans,  15;  Mrs.  Rust  in 
New  Orleans,  18;  Ku-Klux,  20;  Missionaries  and  Teach- 
ers Employed,  23;  Work  Begun  at  Orangeburg,  S.  C, 
and  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Simultaneously  with  the  Work  in  New 
Orleans,  25. 

Organization  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society, 
25;  Mrs.  Hartzell  at  General  Conference  in  Cincinnati, 
1880,  25 ;  Meeting  in  Trinity  Church,  27 ;  Constitution 
Adopted,  29;  Mrs.  Hayes  First  President,  30;  Officers 
Elected,  32;  Mrs.  Hartzell's  Retirement,  32. 
ix 


X  Contents 

CHAPTER  II 

SOME  OF   THE    FOUNDERS,  AND   THE    FIRST   FIVE  YEARS  OF 
THE   SOCIETY 

Mrs.  B.  Iv.  Rust,  34;  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt,  36;  Mrs.  J.  h.  Whetstone, 
37 ;  Mrs.  John  Davis,  38 ;  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  40 ;  Mrs.  James 
Dale,  40;  Twelve  "Resident  Managers,"  42;  Promoting 
Organizations,  43 ;  First  Auxiliary,  45 ;  First  Conference 
Meeting,  45  ;  First  Conference  Organized,  46 ;  Mrs.  Dun- 
ton's  Work  in  South  Carolina,  48 ;  At  Atlanta,  Ga.,  49 ;  At 
Savannah,  Ga.,  50;  In  Utah,  51 ;  First  Annual  Meeting  of 
Board  of  Managers,  52 ;  Seven  Missionaries  in  the  P'ield, 
53 ;  Second  Annual  Meeting,  54 ;  Relation  to  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  55 ;  Third  Annual  Meeting,  56 ;  Mak- 
ing Progress,  56 ;  Bureaus,  57 ;  General  Organizer,  58 ; 
Property  Secured  in  1884,  59;  Incorporation  of  the  So- 
ciety, 59 ;  Fourth  Annual  Meeting,  60 ;  Distinguished 
People  Present,  60 ;  Responsibilities  of  Bureau  Secre- 
taries, 66. 

CHAPTER  III 
BRANCH  I NG    OUT 

Organ  of  the  Society — When  Authorized,  69;  Editor  and 
Publisher,  71;  Surprises,  71;  Mrs.  McCabe,  74;  Advance 
Movement,  75  ;  Miss  Evans,  76 ;  Miss  Van  Marter,  Editor, 
76 ;  Children's  Home  Missions,  77. 

Bureau  for  Suppi^ies,  78;  Appeals  From  Frontier,  78;  First 
Secretary,  Mrs.  Whetstone,  79 ;  Mrs.  Dale,  80. 

Bureau  for  Mormons,  Secretaries,  81 ;  Entry  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  into  Utah,  82 ;  Schools,  82 ;  Davis 
Hall,  Salt  Eake  City,  82  ;  Mrs.  Angie  F.  Newman,  Move- 


Contents  xi 

ment  for  Rescue  Home,  85 ;  Lucy  Hayes  Schoolhouses, 
87 ;  Davis  Hall  Becomes  Deaconess  Home,  89 ;  Purchased 
From  the  Parent  Board,  90;  Ten  Stations  in  Utah  in 
1900,  90 ;  Missionaries  and  Teachers  and  Ministers,  91. 

CHAPTER  IV 
INDUSTRIAL   HOMES  OF   THE   SOCIETY   IN   THE   SOUTH 

BuRKAU  For  Fast  Southlc rn  States,  Secretaries,  93 ;  First 
Model  Home,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Origin,  Fisk  Cottage,  93; 
Thayer  Home,  97 ;  Haven  Home,  Savannah,  100 ;  Speed- 
^vell  Mission,  103;  Palen  Mission,  105;  Boylan  Home, 
Jacksonville,  Fla.,  105;  Miss  Emerson's  Reminiscences, 
106;  A  Primary  Class,  109;  Nurse-training,  no;  Emer- 
son Home,  Ocala,  Fla.,  no;  Self-support  and  Economy, 
112. 

Bureau  for  Middle  Southern  States,  Subdivisions  and 
Secretaries,  113;  Simpson  Home,  Orangeburg,  S.  C,  Mrs. 
Dunton  and  Fenn  Cottage,  114  ;  Simpson  Home  Enlarged 
in  1895,  117;  Change  of  Plan  of  Work,  117;  Browning 
Home,  Camden,  S.  C,  Mrs.  Mather's  Early  Work,  118; 
Enlargement,  121  ;  Gifts  and  Bequests,  121 ;  Allen  Home, 
Asheville,  N.  C,  Dr.  Pease  and  Wife,  123 ;  First  School, 
124;  :\Irs.  Marriage  Allen's  Gift,  125;  New  Building  Ded- 
icated, 126;  Kent  Home,  Greensboro,  N.  C,  Beginnings, 
1884,  127;  Mrs.  Snow,  New  Jersey  Home,  Morristown, 
Tenn.,  129;  Freedmen's  Aid  School  and  Mrs.  H.  Stearns, 
129;  Miss  Carrie  Snider  Sent,  131;  New  Jersey  Home 
Opened,  1S92,  132. 

Bureau  for  West  Southern  States  and  Texas,  Secre- 
taries,   134;   Adeline   Smith    Home,   Little    Rock,   Ark., 


xii  Contents 

Erected  1883,  136;  New  Building,  137;  Annex,  137;  Eliz- 
abeth Iv.  Rust  Home,  Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  First  Work, 
138 ;  Old  Sister's  Home,  139 ;  Peck  Home,  New  Orleans, 
La.,  Dedicated,  140;  Burned,  141;  Mission  for  White 
Girls,  142 ;  French  and  Italian  Work,  142 ;  King  Home, 
Marshall,  Tex.  143 ;  At  Harrisburg,  Tex.,  145. 
White  Work  in  the;  South,  Ritter  Home,  Athens,  Tenn., 
Opened.  146;  Mrs.  Chapman,  147;  School  Work  and  Ex- 
penses 148;  Improvements  and  Valuation,  149;  Mrs 
Williams,  Chairman,  Bennett  Home.  Clarkson  Miss., 
begun  by  Gift  of  Mrs.  Ziba  Bennett,  150;  Woodland 
Academy  Transferred,  151 ;  New  Building  Opened  in 
1900,  152 ;  Emeline  Hamlen  Home,  Kinsey,  Ala.,  Begin- 
nings, 153;  Ambitions  of  the  People,  154. 

CHAPTER  V 
WORK  OF  THE   SOCIETY  IIN   THE  WEST 

Bureau  for  Indians  and  Frontier,  Secretary,  Significance 
of  "  and  Frontier,"  155  ;  Pawnee,  Okla.,  First  Mission,  156 ; 
Ponca,  158;  Pawhuska,  Incidents,  159;  Stickney  Home, 
162 ;  Mrs.  Miller's  Visit,  163 ;  Yakimas,  Father  Wilbur, 
Progress,  165 ;  Ukiah,  167. 

Bureau  for  Indians  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  Secre- 
tary, 169;  Apaches,  Dulce,  169;  Navajoes,  Beginning, 
172;  Peculiarities  of  the  Tribe,  173;  Progress,  174. 

Bureau  for  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  Spanish,  Secre- 
taries, 176;  Early  History  of  the  People,  176;  Harwood 
Home,  179;  Buildings,  181;  Results  of  Work,  182;  Las 
Vegas,  183;  Las  Cruces  and  El  Paso,  185;  Spanish  Work 
in  Southern  California,  185. 


Contents  xiii 

Bureau  for  Ai^aska,  Secretaries,  i86;  Jesse  Lee  Home,  Con- 
ditions in  Alaska,  187 ;  Opening  of  Work  at  Unalaska, 
191 ;  Change  of  Policy,  191 ;  New  Building  Wrecked,  195  ; 
Visit  of  Mrs.  Beiler,  195 ;  Hospital  Needed,  197  ;  Unga, 
198 ;  Opposition  of  Russo-Greek  Church,  199. 

Bureau  for  Orientals,  Secretary,  200;  Chinese  Missions  of 
the  Church  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  201 ;  Origin  of  "  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Pacific  Coast,"  202  ;  Union  with 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  203 ;  Need  for 
Mission  Schools,  205  ;  "  Rescue  Home  "  Building  Erected, 
208 ;  Los  Angeles,  Work  for  Japanese  Women,  208;  Re- 
flex Influence,  211. 

Work  in  Hawaii,  Present  Status  of  Work,  211. 

CHAPTER  VI 

WORK    IN    CITIES-THE    DEACONESS    BUREAU  — YOUNG    PEO- 
PLE'S WORK  AND   EDUCATIVE   MOVEMENTS 

LoCAi,  Work,  Bureau  Authorized,  214;  Absorbed  into  Deacon- 
ess Bureau,  216;  Deaconess  Work  in  Early  Times,  and 
Its  Introduction  into  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
America,  216. 

The  Deaconess  Bureau,  Secretary  and  Assistants,  218;  Miss 
Jane  Bancroft  in  Europe,  and  Return  to  the  United 
States,  219;  Committee  on  Deaconess  Work  Appointed, 
220;  Made  a  Bureau,  221;  How  Constituted,  222;  I'ield 
Secretary,  Duties,  223;  Number  of  Homes  and  Deacon- 
esses, 224 ;  Beginnings  of  Deaconess  Work  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  224;  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National  Training- 
school  and  Sibley  Hospital,  226 ;  Teachers,  228 ;  Rust 
Hall,    230;    San    Francisco    Training-school,    233;    Fisk 


xiv  Contents 

Training-school,  235 ;  Training-school  for  Colored  Girls, 
236;  Rest  Homes,  237;  Bancroft  Rest  Home,  237;  Caro- 
line Rest  Home,  239;  Thompson  Rest  Home,  239;  Lud- 
ington,  240. 

Bureau  for  Porto  Rico,  Secretary,  240;  San  Juan,  241. 

Some  Outgrowths  of  the  Locai,  Bureau,  Glenn  Home, 
244;  Marcy  Home,  245;  Medical  Mission,  Boston,  Mass., 
248;  Bohemian  Building,  Baltimore,  Md.,  250. 

Bureau  for  Immigrants,  Secretaries,  250;  Work  in  New 
York,  251;  Castle  Garden,  254;  Ellis  Island,  256;  New 
"Immigrant  Girls'  Home,"  259;  Italian  Work,  260;  East 
Boston,  261 ;  Philadelphia,  264. 

Bureau  for  Young  Peopi^e's  Work,  267. 

Young  Peopi^e's  Societies,  268 ;  Mothers'  Jewels  Home,  269 ; 
Watts  de  Peyster  Home,  272 ;  Cunningham  Deaconess 
Home  and  Orphanage,  275 ;  Elizabeth  Bradley  Home, 
276. 

Educative  Movements,  Home  Missionary  Reading  Circle, 
277;  Systematic  Beneficence,  279;  Mite-boxes,  281; 
Thank-offering,  283;  Day  of  Humiliation  and  Prayer, 
284 ;  Committee  on  Missionary  Candidates,  286. 

CHAPTER  VII 
CONCLUSION 

Conference  Unions,  287;  New  Constitution,  293;  Personal  Fac- 
tors, 295. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


f 


FACE    PAGE 

PRESIDENT,  MRS.   CLINTON  B.   FISK, Frontispiece. 

MRS.  T.   L.  TOMKINSON,  MRS.   BISHOP  IIARTZELL,  .       i6 

FIRST  OFFICERS, 64 

Mrs.  Lucy  Webb  Hayes,  Mrs.  Eliza  Given  Davis,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Lownes  Rust,  Mrs.  James  Dale,  Mrs.  A.  R. 
Clark. 

PRESENT  OFFICERS, 112 

Mrs.  Delia  Lathrop  Williams,  Mrs.  F.  A.  Aiken,  Mrs. 
George  H.  Thompson. 

EARLY  WORKERS, 160 

Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  E.  Marcy,  Mrs.  C.  V. 
Culver,  Mrs.  W.  A.  Ingham,  Mrs.  W.  F.  Thorne,  Mrs. 
Richard  Dymond,  Mrs.  H.  E.  Doud,  Mrs.  S.  W.  Thom- 
son, Miss  Mary  Belle  Evans,  Miss  Flora  Mitchell, 
Miss  E.  A.  McIllmoyl,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Mendenhall. 

BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES, 208 

Mrs.  JA.NE  Bancroft  Robinson,  Mrs.  Wm,  C.  IIerron, 
Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe,  Mrs.  Bishop  Walden,  Mrs.  Bishop 
Fowler,  Mrs.  W.  F.  Robertson,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Gosling, 
Mrs.  W.  A.  Goodman,  Jr.,  Mrs.  Anna  Kent,  Mrs.  J.  L. 
Whetstone,  Mrs.  W.  P.  Thirkield,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright, 
Mrs.  I.  D.  Jones,  Mrs.  M.  T.  MacGuffin,  Mrs.  Wm.  M. 
Ampt,  Miss  Henrietfa  A.  Bancroft,  Mrs.  W.  L.  Ikxs- 
well. 

XV 


xvi  List  of  Illustrations 

FACE  ?AGE 

BUREAU  SECRETARIES, 256 

Mrs,  E.  W.  Simpson,  Mrs.  M.  B.  Hagans,  Mrs.  B.  S. 
Potter,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Hedges,  Mrs.  Lavanda  G.  Murphy, 
Mrs.  L.  p.  Williams,  Mrs.  A.  M.'Whitson,  Mrs.  Levi 
Gilbert,  Mrs.  Geo.  E.  Reed,  Mrs.  May  Leonard  Wood- 
ruff, Mrs.  M.  C.  Alspaugh,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Jennings,  Mrs. 
Jennie  F.  Willing. 


Twenty  Years'  History 

Hi 

CHAPTER  I 
BEGINNINGS 

Every  philanthropic  movement  has  its  birth  in  a 
great  moral  idea.  Back  of  the  organization  is  a  po- 
tential thought.  Older  than  twentieth-century  civiliza- 
tion is  the  truth  embodied  in  the  proverb,  ''The  hand 
that  rocks  the  cradle  rules  the  world."  In  the  homes 
of  a  people  are  the  hidden  springs  of  national  char- 
acter, and  a  stream  can  not  rise  higher  than  its  foun- 
tain-head. Herein  lies  the  germ  thought  of  the  or- 
ganization which  we  call  "The  Woman's  Home  ]\lis- 
sionary  vSociety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 

The  providential  call  to  the  women  of  Methodism 
to  work  for  the  elevation  of  the  home  in  the  home  b'.id 
came  first  from  the  ignorant  and  neglected  classes  in 
the  Southern  States,  and  through  the  work  of  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society.  In  the  gloomy  days  suc- 
2  I 


2  Twenty  Years'  History 

ceeding  the  Civil  War  the  problem  of  Negro  better- 
ment baffled  statesmen  and  philanthropists  alike.  Four 
millions  of  freedmen  with  broken  shackles  lifted  up 
helpless  hands,  and  with  half-blinded  eyes  confronted 
the  light  of  a  new  dispensation.  The  clash  of  arms 
on  the  battlefield  had  ceased,  but  the  war  of  prejudices 
and  principles  threatened  to  go  on.  The  readjustment 
of  relations  between  the  two  races  in  the  South — the 
whites  and  the  blacks — promised  to  be  a  difficult 
achievement.  Citizenship  had  been  thrust  upon  a  peo- 
ple all  unprepared  to  discharge  its  responsibilities.  It 
was  but  natural  and  righteous,  therefore,  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  North,  who  had  been  instrumental  in  the 
liberation  of  the  slave,  should  assist  him  to  a  better 
understanding  of  his  duties  in  his  new  and  untried 
estate. 

Doubtless  the  United  States  Government  did  what 
it  could.  A  "Freedmen's  Bureau"  was  established. 
Funds  were  appropriated  to  provide  schools  and  teach- 
ers, and  during  the  first  ten  years  after  the  close  of 
the  war  three  millions  of  dollars  were  expended  in 
this  way.  Friends  of  the  freedmen  in  the  North  and 
West  were  banded  together  in  "Freedmen's  Aid  Com- 
missions." These  were  general  and  undenominational. 
Much  of  the  Government  relief  and  school  funds 
passed  through  the  treasuries  of  these  commissions, 
and  much  more  was  gathered  directly  from  the  gen- 


Beginnings  3 

erous  contributions  of  the  humane  and  philanthropic, 
and  from  the  Churches. 

In  due  time  the  leading  Christian  sects,  each  ab- 
sorbing around  a  nucleus  of  its  own  the  educational 
and  evangelistic  movements  peculiar  to  itself,  organ- 
ized denominational  Freedmen's  Aid  Societies.  This 
led  to  a  dissolution  of  the  general  "Aid  Commissions," 
and  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  the  freed  people 
came  directly  upon  the  Churches.  The  IMethodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  not  slow  to  perceive  the  duty 
of  the  hour.  To  Bishop  Davis  W.  Clark,  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  was  intrusted  the  task  of  establishing  the 
missions  of  that  Church  among  the  loyal  whites  and 
the  freedmen  of  the  South.  He  found  it  impossible 
to  do  this  without  schools  and  teachers.  The  Mission- 
ary Society  could  send  preachers,  the  Church  Exten- 
sion Society  might  aid  in  the  erection  of  church-build- 
ings, but  neither  was  authorized  to  provide  the  means 
for  education.  Therefore,  to  meet  this  pressing  need, 
at  a  Convention  held  pursuant  to  a  call  for  a  meeting 
of  ministers  and  laymen  in  Trinity  Church,  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  August  7  and  8,  i866,  the  Freedmen's  Aid 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  called 
into  being. 

Christian  education  was  henceforth  the  watchword 
of  this  Society,  and  was  constantly  held  before  the 
Church  as  affording  the  highroad  by  which  an  igno- 


4  Twenty  Years'  History 

rant  and  degraded  people  might  be  expected  to  march 
into  a  condition  of  enhghtened  prosperity.  The 
preacher  and  the  teacher  went  hand  in  hand,  and  more 
frequently  than  otherwise  were  one  and  the  same. 
Where  there  was  a  Methodist  congregation,  a  common 
school  was  likely  to  follow,  and  at  the  end  of  the  fourth 
year  ten  thousand  pupils  were  reported  as  enrolled  in 
the  Society's  schools. 

And  everywhere  these  people  were  eager  to  learn. 
Under  the  old  regime  it  had  been  a  breach  of  statu- 
tory law  to  teach  a  slave  to  read.  With  the  coming  of 
emancipation  the  statute  was  nullified,  and  the  axiom, 
"Knowledge  is  power,"  seemed  at  once  to  spring  into 
place  as  the  chief  article  in  the  freedmen's  civic  creed. 
The  desire  manifested  for  education  was  phenomenal 
and  pathetic.  Old  and  young  flocked  together  into 
the  schools.  They  came,  bringing  whatever  books  they 
chanced  to  possess — it  might  be  ''an  old  almanac,  a 
Bible,  or  a  treatise  on  astronomy" — and  from  these 
they  expected  to  be  taught.  Discouragements  fol- 
lowed, and  the  ranks  thinned,  but  abundant  employ- 
ment remained  for  all  those  teachers  who  could  be 
found  willing  to  undertake  the  uninviting  task. 

Among  these  teachers  were  accomplished  young 
women  from  the  North,  who,  constrained  by  the  love 
of  Christ,  hastened  to  give  themselves  to  this  work. 
Ostracised  by  the  whites,  isolated  among  an  ignorant 


Beginnings  5 

people  of  a  despised  race,  and  sometimes  flying  for 
their  lives,  they  tasted  all  the  bitterness  of  a  religious 
persecution.  Truly  they  illustrated  the  statement  made 
by  a  distinguished  minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  when  he  said  in  an  address:  "Of 
all  who  go  out  under  the  Master's  commission,  no  one 
takes  up  a  heavier  cross  than  the  woman  who,  leaving 
a  Northern  home,  goes  into  the  Southland,  there  to  sit 
down,  by  her  degraded  colored  sister,  to  point  her  to 
Jesus." 

The  history  of  these  efforts,  covering  a  period  of 
many  years,  is  written  in  the  heart's  blood  of  the 
workers.  God  alone  knows  the  record.  But  some 
faint  conception  of  this  environment  crept  back  into 
the  communities  whence  they  had  come,  and  stirred 
the  people  to  a  new  awakening. 

Besides  these  numerous  primary  schools,  the  neces- 
sity soon  became  apparent  to  provide  institutions  of 
a  higher  grade,  in  which  young  men  could  be  prepared 
for  the  ministry,  and  young  men  and  women  be  trained 
as  teachers.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  the  Freedmen's 
Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had 
one  or  more  of  such  institutions  in  operation  in  almost 
every  Southern  State.  To  these  had  come,  as  prin- 
cipals and  instructors,  some  of  the  best  and  brightest 
men  and  women  from  Northern  colleges  and  Churches. 
Here  they  found  ample  opportunity,  which  they  were 


6  Twenty  Years'  History 

not  slow  to  improve,  to  observe  and  report  on  the 
social  conditions  prevailing  among  the  freed  people. 
Bishops  and  secretaries  and  prominent  clergymen 
made  frequent  itineraries,  giving  closest  attention  to 
all  available  information,  and  studying  the  signs  of  the 
times.  White  men  from  the  North  were  appointed 
as  presiding  elders  over  districts  in  colored  Confer- 
ences, and,  in  some  cases,  as  pastors  of  colored  con- 
gregations. A  bishop,  Gilbert  Haven,  the  lifelong 
champion  of  human  freedom,  was  assigned  to  an  epis- 
copal residence  in  Atlanta,  Georgia.  Chaplains  in  the 
Union  army  and  Northern  soldiers  settled  in  the  South, 
and  became  identified,  in  one  way  or  another,  with  the 
welfare  of  the  colored  race.  These,  one  and  all,  had 
somewhat  to  contribute  to  the  general  concensus  of 
opinion  concerning  existing  conditions  and  the  out- 
look for  the  future.  Perhaps  more  than  by  means  of 
the  public  prints  were  these  personal  factors  potent 
in  creating  sentiment  in  the  Churches.  Those  who  had 
given  their  lives  to  service  for  this  people,  those  who 
had  stood  heart  to  heart  and  hand  to  hand  with  them 
in  the  struggle  for  a  better  life,  were  qualified,  as  were 
no  others,  to  bear  witness  for  and  against  them.  These 
had  gone  among  them,  had  looked  down  into  the  abyss, 
and  had  come  back  to  tell  what  they  had  seen  and 
heard. 

The  fact  began  to  be  recognized  that  a  tremendous 


Beginnings  7 

conflict  was  on,  and  of  a  kind  not  counted  upon  in  the 
premises.  Education  must  not  be  minimized,  but  edu- 
cation such  as  had  been  provided  had  proved  inade- 
quate. It  was  discouraging,  l)ut  true.  Ten  years,  fif- 
teen years,  of  the  work  of  the  Freednien's  Aid  Society, 
work  which  had  been  wrought  with  subhme  faith  and 
ahnost  unprecedented  activity,  while  often  accomphsh- 
ing  wonderful  results,  had  also  startled  the  w^orkers  by 
revelations  of  unsuspected  difficulties.  Abnormal  de- 
velopments on  every  hand  shattered  all  preconceived 
theories  of  wdiat  might  be  expected  to  follow  the  ad- 
vent of  freedom  and  the  effort  to  educate  and  enlighten 
the  freedmen.  Something  more,  evidently,  was  needed 
to  cope  wdth  the  appalling  social  conditions  existing 
than  the  teachings  of  the  schools,  or  even  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel.  The  trying  times  of  the  seventies 
but  intensified  this  condition  of  need.  Yielding  to  the 
clamor  of  a  few  politicians  concerning  expense  and 
consequent  taxation,  the  Government  had  withdrawn 
its  aid  to  Southern  education.  The  Freedmen's  Aid 
Society  found  itself  compelled  to  resolve  ''to  only  sus- 
tain so  much  of  the  school  work  as  the  contributions 
of  the  beneveolent  should  warrant,"  and  many  of  the 
smaller  schools,  which  had  brought  the  teachers  into 
close  touch  with  life  in  the  cabins,  were  suspended. 
Swarms  of  children  could  be  seen  on  the  streets  in 
in  every  colored  community,  growing  up  in  idleness 


8  Twenty  Years'  History 

and  enforced  ignorjnce.  To  many  students  of  the 
problem  the  "last  state"  of  this  people  promised  to  be 
"worse  than  the  first."  ^lore  money  was  needed,  more 
helpers,  and  some  different  line  of  work  should  be 
adopted.  A  system  must  be  introduced  which  should 
aim  more  directly  at  the  redemption  of  the  home. 

Then  in  the  Xorth  some  broad-minded,  great- 
souled  women  came  forward  to  join  hands  with  the 
toilers  already  in  the  field,  and  said :  "We  have  some- 
thing to  do  in  this  matter;  we  must  imite  to  lift  up 
the  women  and  children."  The  great  thought  which 
had  long  been  germinating  in  the  hearts  of  the  mis- 
sionary workers  burst  forth.  The  purpose  grew  and 
took  shape,  and  in  time  the  organization  of  the 
Woman's  Home  ^Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  a  definite  outcome. 

^lany  and  various  were  the  lines  of  influence  which 
gradually  led  up  to  this  achievement. 

Emerson  says,  "Civilization  is  simply  the  influence 
of  good  women."  The  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  brought  women  to  the  front  in  manifold  Chris- 
tian activities.  In  1869  the  women  of  the  ^Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  were  banded  together  for  work  for 
women  in  foreign  lands,  and  other  denominations  were 
successfully  demonstrating  the  wisdom  of  organizing 
"Women's  Boards"  for  work  in  the  home  land  as  well 
as  in  the  foreign  field.    To  ^lethodist  women  the  provi- 


Beginnings  9 

dential  call  to  form  a  second  missionary  organization 
came,  as  has  been  traced,  through  the  work  of  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society.  Dr.  Richard  S.  Rust,  who 
from  the  date  of  the  adoption  of  that  Society  by  the 
General  Conference,  served  as  its  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary, and  hence  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
field,  struck  the  keynote  when  he  said:  "The  women 
of  our  Church  can  not  be  unmindful  of  their  sable 
sisters  in  the  South.  Xo  race  can  be  elevated  while 
its  wives,  mothers,  and  daughters  are  debased."  Bishop 
Isaac  W.  Wiley,  who  had  the  "eye  of  a  seer"  in 
relation  to  all  woman's  work  in  the  Church,  was 
largely  instrumental  in  opening  the  way  for  such 
an  organization.  "To  him,"  says  ]\Irs.  Rust,  "more 
than  to  any  other,  should'  be  attributed  the  honor 
of  originating  and,  in  its  early  history,  guiding  the 
\\'oman's  Home  Missionary  Society."  While  fully  ap- 
preciating the  work  of  women  in  foreign  lands — he 
had  been  himself  a  missionary  to  China — he  was  ready 
to  exclaim :  "To  my  mind,  the  work  of  Christian 
women  for  their  needy  sisters  in  their  own  country  is 
as  indispensable  as  for  the  foreign  field."  And  again 
he  said :  "Unless  the  women  of  the  North  come  to  the 
help  of  the  workers  in  the  South,  the  efforts  of  the 
schools  will  be  almost  fruitless,  because  the  teachings 
of  the  schools  are  being  neutralized  by  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  homes."     Upon  his  return  to  Cincinnati 


lo  Twenty  Years'  History 

after  one  of  his  extended  Southern  tours,  he  caused  a 
call  to  be  issued  for  a  meeting  in  St.  Paul  Church, 
especially  for  women,  that  he  might  lay  the  case  be- 
fore them.  To  the  large  evening  audience  there  as- 
sembled he  delivered  an  address  in  which  he  portrayed 
"Cabin  Life  among  the  Colored  People,"  and  ''urged 
the  promotion  of  a  society  to  enlist  the  women  of  the 
Church  in  that  kind  of  mission  work."  This  address 
and  the  bishop's  continued  advocacy  of  some  form  of 
organization  for  the  benefit  of  freedwomen,  created  a 
profound  and  lasting  impression  in  Cincinnati  and  else- 
where in  the  North.  And  to  the  Woman's  Home  ^lis- 
sionary  Society,  when  the  organization  was  afterward 
effected,  this  great  and  good  man  was  ever  ready  to 
pay  the  loyal  tribute  of  voice  and  pen  and  purse. 

A  separate  organization  was  not  at  first  thought 
desirable.  Various  attempts  were  made  to  enlist  the 
women  of  Methodism  in  behalf  of  the  home  field 
through  existing  agencies.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Executive  Committee  of  the  Wonian's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  held  at  Chicago,  1872,  a  plea  for 
work  for  freedwomen  in  the  United  States  was 
seriously  considered.  In  1873,  at  Cincinnati,  Dr.  Rust 
being  invited  to  present  the  case  before  the  same  body, 
urged  the  propriety  of  dropping  the  word  "Foreign" 
from  the  name  of  the  Society,  and  making  it  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 


Beginnings  ii 

copal  Church.  A  similar  appeal  was  made  in  New 
England  by  Bishop  Wiley.  In  1875,  at  Baltimore,  at 
the  Executive  Committee  meeting  of  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  vSociety,  notice  w^as  given  of  a  pro- 
posed constitutional  amendment  which  should  leave  the 
Society  free  to  take  up  the  home  work.  The  following 
year,  how^ever,  the  plan  was  dismissed  as  unadvisable. 
At  a  mass-meeting  of  women  held  I\Iay  12,  1875, 
at  Baltimore,  with  Mrs.  Bishop  Clark  in  the  chair,  and 
Mrs.  Jennie  Fowder  Willing,  Secretary,  it  w^as  resolved 
to  petition  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  asking  that  its 
influence  be  used  at  the  next  General  Conference  to 
secure  the  election  of  ladies  as  members  of  its  Board 
of  Managers.  INIrs.  \Y.  A.  Ingham,  ]\Irs.  Mary  T. 
Lathrop,  and  i\lrs.  Willing  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  memorial,  which  was  done  in  the 
following  form : 

"Whereas,  Our  bishops  and  the  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  have  pressed 
upon  our  attention  the  necessity  of  prompt  and  efficient 
effort  in  behalf  of  the  freedwomen,  and  as  we  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  a  solemn  duty  rests  upon  us  to  help 
those  who,  though  neglected  and  degraded,  are  the 
mothers  and  teachers  of  millions  who  will  become  citi- 
zens of  the  Republic ;  and 

"Whereas,  We  are  awake  to  the  fact  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  laid  her  hands  of  power 
upon    these     freed     people,     giving    them     beautiful 


12  Twenty  Years'  History 

churches,  directing  their  worship,  and  educating  their 
children,  thus  taking  them  hopelessly  away  from  the 
influence  of  Protestant  and  American  thought ;  and 

"Whereas,  V\^e  believe  that  if  women  were  more 
largely  responsible  for  work  among  the  freedmen,  they 
w^ould  not  only  specially  interest  in  it  the  women  of  the 
Church,  but  they  w^ould  help  to  establish  direct  com- 
munication between  teachers  in  the  field  and  the 
Churches  supporting  them ;  therefore, 

''Resolved,  That  we  respectfully  memorialize  the 
Board  of  Managers  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  asking  that  they  use 
their  influence  with  the  General  Conference,  at  its  next 
session,  to  secure  the  election  to  said  Board  of  Man- 
agers of  one  woman  from  each  mission  district  of  the 
Church." 

This  was  presented  to  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  July  i8,  1876,  by  IMrs. 
Bishop  Clark,  Mrs.  William  B.  Davis,  and  Mrs.  R.  S. 
Rust.  It  was  graciously  considered,  and  Bishop  Wiley, 
Dr.  R.  S.  Rust,  Judge  M.  B.  Hagans,  and  Dr.  J.  M. 
Walden  were  made  a  Committee  to  confer  with  the 
ladies,  October  13,  1876.  The  above  Committee  re- 
ported as  follows : 

"Your  Committee  see  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
introducing  women  into  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society  as  advisers.  By  the  Act  of 
Incorporation  males  only  are  eligible  to  the  Board  and 


Beginnings  13 

entitled  to  vote ;  but  it  is  very  (lesiral)le  that  the  women 
of  the  Churchi  shiOuld  partiei])ate  in  our  councils,  and 
we  unanimously  recommend  that  they  be  cordially  ad- 
mitted to  participate  in  all  our  meetings  as  advisers 
and  counselors." 

Actino-  under  the  direction  of  the  above  Committtee 
of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  a  circular  letter  was 
sent  out  by  Mrs.  Rust  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  ladies 
prominently  connected  w4th  the  work  of  the  Church, 
asking  suggestions  as  to  the  form  the  movement  should 
assume.  Invitations  were  sent  to  these  and  others  to 
meet  at  Cincinnati  the  first  week  of  December.  At 
this  meeting  it  was  "resolved  to  recommend  a  w^oman's 
department  auxiliary  to  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society, 
under  the  direction  of  a  lady  as  Assistant  Correspond- 
ing Secretary." 

At  this  time  the  movement  was  being  so  earnestly 
considered  that  at  the  ninth  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  held  at  Pittsburg,  December 
10  and  II,  1876,  prominent  ladies  spoke  upon  the  sub- 
ject from  the  pulpits  on  Sunday,  and  on  Monday  after- 
noon a  woman's  meeting  was  held  in  South  Common 
Cliurch,  addressed  by  Mrs.  Jennie  Fowler  Willing, 
Mrs.  Mary  Sparkes  Wheeler,  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Lownes  Rust.  But  the  legal  obstructions  to  the  project 
were  insurmountable,  and  the  Special  Committee  ap- 


14  Twenty  Years'  History 

pointed  by  the  Society  reported,  January  20,  1877,  as 
follows : 

''In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  introduction  of  females 
into  the  Board  of  Managers  by  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  Ohio  under  which  the  Society  holds  its  charter 
would  endanger  its  title  to  property,  it  is  not  prac- 
ticable to  elect  a  lady  as  Assistant  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary ;  and  we  tender  the  appointment  of  Agent  of  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society  to  Mrs.  Jennie  F.  Willing,  to 
be  employed  by  and  under  the  direction  of  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  in  publicly  presenting  the  cause, 
collecting  funds,  and  organizing  Auxiliary  Societies." 

As  women  could  not  be  recognized  in  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  the  Society,  Mrs.  Willing  declined  to 
accept  the  position,  and  the  plan  was  not  carried  out. 

The  statement,  however,  should  be  placed  upon 
record  that  a  considerable  minority  of  the  thinking 
women  who  were  interested  in  this  movement  were  op- 
posed to  absorption  into  any  existing  organization, 
and  stoutly  maintained  the  capacity  of  the  sex  to  con- 
duct and  control  an  independent  Society.  Among  these 
Mrs.  Francis  S.  Hoyt,  Mrs.  James  Dale,  and  ]\Irs. 
John  L.  Whetstone  were  the  leaders. 

After  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society's  decision  of  Jan- 
uary, 1877,  nothing  seemed  to  be  left  to  those  whose 
sympathies  had  been  enlisted  but  to  urge  the  im- 
portance of  the  work  through  the  press  and  by  per- 
sonal appeals,  and  to  carry  on  individual  enterprises 


Beginnings  15 

in  a  private  way  under  the  advice  and  direction  of  the 
Society. 

While  the  women  in  the  North  w^re  thus  being 
prepared  for  their  part  of  the  work,  some  faithful  ones 
in  the  South  were  unconsciously  paving  the  way  for 
the  coming  organization,  by  actually  doing  the  work 
without  organization.  Giving  cups  of  cold  water  to 
the  weary  and  thirsty  **In  the  name  of  a  disciple,"  tak- 
ing a  step  at  a  time  when  only  a  step  of  the  path  could 
be  seen,  they  went  forward,  little  guessing  whereunto 
that  path  would  lead. 

MRS.  HARTZEIvL'S  WORK  IN  NEW  ORLEANS 
In  this  work,  Mrs.  Jennie  C.  Hartzell  was  clearly 
the  pioneer.  Her  husband.  Dr.  Joseph  C.  Hartzell, 
afterwards  elected  Missionary  Bishop  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  for  Africa,  was  appointed 
to  the  pastorate  of  Ames  Chapel  (white),  New 
Orleans,  La.,  late  in  1869,  and  arrived  in  that  city 
with  his  family  in  February,  1870.  Later  he  started, 
as  a  personal  venture,  the  Southwestern  Christian 
Advocate,  and,  upon  its  adoption  as  one  of  the 
Church  periodicals,  he  was  continued  as  editor,  and 
with  his  family  remained  in  New  Orleans  until 
1883.  Associated  with  them  in  similar  aims  were  the 
professors  in  the  Freedmen's  Aid  schools  and  rep- 
resentatives of  other  departments  of  the  work  of  the 
j\Iethodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  also  some  kindred 


i6  Twenty  Years'  History 

spirits  of  other  denominations.  Among  these  may  be 
recalled  such  men  as  J.  P.  Newman,  afterwards  bishop ; 
Lucius  C.  Matlack,  whose  early  life  had  been  shadowed 
by  many  years  of  ill-treatment  because  of  his  outspoken 
opposition  to  slavery;  W.  D.  Godman,  President  of 
New  Orleans  University;  M.  C.  Cole,  Instructor;  and 
many  others  whose  names  shine  as  stars  through  the 
blackness  of  those  years.  These,  with  their  wives  and 
personal  friends,  and  an  occasional  winter  tourist, 
formed  a  little  colony  of  Northern  men  and  women 
which  made  the  vicinity  of  Camp  and  Race  Streets,  in 
the  heart  of  the  city  where  the  university  was  located, 
the  center  of  a  religious  movement  characterized  by 
the  keenest  solicitude  for  the  future  of  the  freed  people. 
One  can  not  but  admire  the  faith  and  courage  of  this 
heroic  few,  standing  alone  in  the  midst  of  disorganiza- 
tion and  calumny,  and  even  personal  danger,  calmly 
planning  to  place  in  the  great  festering  "lump"  their 
one  small  measure  of  gospel  "leaven." 

It  was  soon  found  that  much  of  this  endeavor  must 
be  hand-to-handwork.  Regardless  of  the  social  obloquy 
sure  to  follow,  "Mrs.  Hartzell  went  much  among  the 
colored  people  during  the  early  years  of  her  residence 
in  New  Orleans.  She  was  deeply  interested  in  them, 
and  they  were  responsive  to  sympathy."  Without  plan 
or  object,  save  the  consecrated  purpose  to  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  Him  who  "came,  not  to  be  ministered 


Mrs.  T.   L.   To.mkinsox.  Mrs.    Uisiiop  IIartzkll. 


Beginnings  17 

unto,   but  to  minister,"  she   went  about  doing  good. 
Writing  of  this  time,  eight  years  later,  she  said : 

"Strangely  has  the  I^ord  led  me  to  work  among 
the  needy  of  our  colored  sisters  in  Louisiana.  With 
poor  health,  a  family  of  little  ones,  and  the  regular 
work  of  a  minister's  wife,  it  had  not  occurred  to  me 
that  I  could  do  more  than  feel  for  these  distressed 
ones,  and  pray  that  our  loving  Father  would  speedily 
send  to  their  help  holy  women  wdio  w^ould  minister 
to  them  as  he  would  direct." 

As  indicating  the  manner  of  this  leading,  a  friend 
in  Cincinnati  relates  the  following: 

''Her  first  work  was  in  response  to  a  call  to  visit 
a  dying  girl  in  a  disreputable  house.  A  minister  had 
been  asked  for,  but  none  dared  go.  Dr.  Hartzell  was 
out  of  town,  and  she  went  alone ;  went  again  and  again 
for  two  weeks,  and  saw  the  girl  happily  converted,  and 
willing  to  die.  Once,  on  coming  out  of  this  place,  the 
proprietress  of  another  such  house  w^aited  for  her  and 
asked  her  to  come,  the  following  Sabbath,  and  speak 
to  her  young  w^omen  as  she  had  talked  to  this  dying 
girl.  She  went,  and  had  twenty  of  those  poor  women, 
whom  no  one  seemed  to  care  to  save,  intently  listening 
to  her  w^ords,  so  hungry  were  the}'  for  help  and  com- 
fort. Not  to  the  colored  people  alone,  but  to  all  classes 
of  the  poor  and  neglected,  Mrs.  Hartzell  w^as  a  "min- 
istering angel." 

In  1872,  Mrs.  J.  L.  Whetstone,  of  Cincinnati,  being 
in  impaired  health,  went  South,  and  met  ]\Irs.  Hartzell 


i8  Twenty  Years'  History 

in  New  Orleans.  She  became  greatly  interested  in 
what  she  saw  of  the  work  being  done  for  freed  people, 
and  *'did  something  to  help  that  work."  She  visited 
the  colored  churches  and  schools,  and  the  colored  peo- 
ple in  their  homes,  and  witnessed  the  affectionate  rever- 
ence with  which  those  people  were  wont  to  regard 
Mrs.  Hartzell,  and  heard  them  speak  of  her  as  their 
''mother"  and  "best  friend."  Mrs.  Whetstone  subse- 
quently kept  in  touch  with  Mrs.  Hartzell  and  her  work, 
and  was  thus  among  the  first  in  Cincinnati  to  advocate 
organization  and  activity  in  support  of  that  work. 

In  1876,  at  the  General  Conference  at  Baltimore, 
Mrs.  Hartzell  and  Dr.  Hartzell  met  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Rust.  The  latter  was  a  bride,  a  beautiful  and  talented 
women,  who,  though  born  and  bred  a  Quakeress,  was 
fast  becoming  interested  in  the  institutions  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  especially  in  the  work  made 
familiar  to  her  by  her  husband's  position  as  an  officer 
in  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society.  ''Then  and  there," 
said  Mrs.  Hartzell,  afterwards,  "my  husband  and  I 
conspired  to  get  Dr.  Rust  to  bring  his  wife  with  him 
that  coming  winter  to  New  Orleans  to  the  Louisiana 
Conference,  that  we  might  interest  her  in  working  with 
us  for  a  home  organization,  with  headquarters  at 
Cincinnati,  which  should  take  up  the  work  of  elevat- 
ing the   colored   women   of  the    South,   and,  to   our 


Beginnings  19 

great  joy,  when  the  Conference  time  arrived,  January, 
1877,  Mrs.  Rust  came." 

In  the  fall  of  1876,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Ryder,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  household  of  ]\Irs.  W.  D.  Godman, 
being  anxious  to  do  something  for  the  colored  people, 
appealed  to  Mrs.  Hartzell  for  assistance  and  direc- 
tion. Up  to  this  time,  Mrs.  Hartzell  had  done  only 
personal  work,  "giving  a  considerable  portion  of  her 
time  to  visiting  in  the  homes,  attending  IMothers' 
Meetings,  working  as  an  officer  in  La  Teche  Or- 
phanage, distributing  literature  where  it  could  be 
read,"  and  inspiring  and  encouraging  the  people  in 
their  schools  and  Churches.  Yielding  to  Mrs. 
Ryder's  importunities,  Mrs.  Hartzell  arranged  rooms 
for  her,  and  she  began  her  work  as  a  house-to-house 
visitor  late  in  the  fall  of  1876,  making  a  weekly  re- 
port to  Mrs.  Hartzell  of  what  was  done.  Mrs.  Hart- 
zell says,  ''I  kept  no  account  of  money  expended  in  this 
way  until  a  regular  school  was  opened  in  1877,  in  which 
were  taught  the  primary  branches,  the  Bible,  the  cate- 
chism, and  also  sewing  and  the  cutting  of  garments." 

Mrs.  J.  S.  Roberts,  matron  of  the  "Orphan's 
Home"  at  La  Teche,  deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  "one 
of  the  noblest  and  wisest  of  workers  for  the  good  of  the 
colored  people  of  Louisiana"  at  this  time.  Dr.  Newman 
(afterwards  Bishop),  and  his  wife,  who  was  hand  in 


20  Twenty  Years'  History 

hand  with  him  in  these  labors,  had  purchased  seven- 
teen hundred  acres  of  land,  and,  aided  by  his  friends, 
had  built  on  this  plantation  the  "Orphanage,"  in 
which  over  one  hundered  children  and  youths  were 
being  cared  for  by  Mrs.  Roberts,  ''like  a  mother,  in 
body,  mind,  and  soul !"  Mrs.  Hartzell,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Management  of  the  Home,  was 
closely  associated  with  Mrs.  Roberts  in  the  interests 
of  this  work. 

January  25,  1877,  Mrs.  Rust  first  entered  New 
Orleans.  She  was  with  her  husband,  Dr.  R.  S.  Rust, 
who  was  making  a  tour  of  the  Conferences  in  the 
interest  of  his  office,  and  Bishop  Wiley,  who  was  to 
preside  at  the  Louisiana  Conference,  was  also  of  the 
party.  It  was  the  darkest  hour  of  the  reconstruc- 
tion period,  the  time  of  Ku-Klux  raids,  and  violent 
political  agitation.  The  election  of  President  Ruther- 
ford B.  Hayes  was  still  in  dispute.  Of  this  visit  Mrs. 
Rust  says: 

''Great  excitement  prevailed,  the  city  was  full  of 
armed  men,  and  our  friends  warned  us  that  we  were 
in  danger.  The  two  Legislatures  were  in  session, 
one  black  and  the  other  white.  Republican  and  Dem- 
ocratic, each  claiming  authority.  One  was  held  in 
the  legislative  hall,  which  happened  to  be  within 
twenty  feet  of  the  veranda  on  which  our  room  opened, 
and  from  which  I  could  hear  almost  every  word 
spoken.     The  other  was  in  the  hall  of  the  St.  Louis 


Beginnings  2i 

Hotel.  The  menibers  were  black,  and  did  not  leave 
the  building  lest  they  should  be  murdered.  Dr. 
Rust  communicated  between  President  Grant  at 
Washington  and  this  colored  Legislature,  using  all 
his  influence  to  hold  the  latter  to  pacific  measures, 
because  the  chance  firing  of  a  shot  might  have  caused 
an  uprising,  and  probably  would  have  cost  us  our 
lives. 

"There  were  eight  thousand  colored  refugees  in 
the  city  who  had  fled  from  the  Ku-Klux,  many  of  them 
horribly  mutilated,  among  them  Eliza  Pinxton.  Ex- 
cept I  had  heard  her  story  from  her  own  lips,  and  seen 
the  evidence  in  her  terrible  wounds,  I  could  not  have 
believed  it. 

'*Dr.  Rust  and  Bishop  Wiley  had  long  felt  that  it 
was  desirable  to  have  an  organization  of  women  who 
would  intelligently  co-operate  in  religious  work  for 
these  poor  people.  The  conditions  prevailing  were 
such  that  the  teachers  in  the  Freedmen's  Aid  schools 
could  not  visit  the  home  of  a  pupil  who  was  ill,  nor 
could  a  clergyman  attempt  to  administer  religious 
consolation  in  such  a  case,  without  the  vilest  accusa- 
tions being  heaped  upon  him." 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Rust  remained  three  weeks  in  New 
Orleans  in  anxious  consideration  of  the  problems  pre- 
sented. In  company  with  some  of  the  local  workers, 
Mrs.  Rust  visited  in  the  homes,  and  was  deeply 
stirred  by  what  she  saw  and  heard.  Emperor  Wil- 
liams, **that  truly  great  and  good  colored  preacher," 
arranged  for  her  to  say  a  few  words  to  the  Confer- 


22  Twenty  Years'  History 

ence  in  session ;  she  was  presented,  and  responded 
briefly  and  graciously. 

The  result  of  this  visit  was  that  the  Bishop  and  Dr. 
Rust  "approved  of  the  woman's  work  that  had  been  in- 
augurated by  Mrs.  Hartzell,"  and  arranged  that  it 
should  be,  for  the  time  being,  reported  through  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  and  that  Mrs.  Rust  went 
away  fired  with  the  resolve  to  work  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  Society  that  should  bring  Northern  women 
to  see  the  desperate  need  of  the  poor  black  women 
and  children  of  the  Southland.  She  sent  out  there- 
after appeals  through  the  Church  press  and  by  per- 
sonal efforts  aided  in  securing  funds  for  the  promo- 
tion and  support  of  the  work. 

Of  the  work  inaugurated  by  Mrs.  Hartzell,  and 
above  referred  to,  she  herself  says : 

''The  first  regular  mission  school  started  by  me, 
and  taught  by  white  missionaries  in  my  employ,  was 
at  Wesley  Chapel  in  the  winter  of  1877  and  1878. 
It  was  taught  by  Mrs.  Ryder,  Mrs.  Hathaway,  and 
another  lady.  I  became  personally  responsible  for  the 
regular  salaries  of  the  missionaries  and  for  the  rent 
and  furnishings  of  their  home." 

With  every  succeeding  year  the  field  widened,  and 
the  calls  became  more  impressive.  In  the  summer  of 
1878,  while  the  pall  of  the  yellow  fever  scourge  was 
hanging   over   the    South,    and   while    Mrs.    Hartzell 


Beginnings  23 

was  in  the  North,  letters  came  to  her  from  Louisiana, 
saying,  "We  are  praying  for  you.  Sister  Hartzell, 
our  old  colored  sisters  are  praying  that  you  may  be 
able  to  bring  back  with  you  missionaries  and  teachers 
who  will  take  our  daughters  and  save  them."  ''In 
the  midst  of  death  those  mothers  dreamed  of  a  life 
of  purity  for  their  daughters,  such  as  they  had  not 
known  themselves !"  Her  heart  replied,  "I  dare  not 
refuse  to  be  used  of  God  in  answering  those  mothers' 
prayers.  Lord,  do  with  me  what  seemeth  good  in  thy 
sight."  With  much  natural  timidity,  she  went  in  fear 
and  trembling  before  the  people,  visiting  pastors 
and  ladies  and  Churches,  and  appealing  for  help.  The 
Lord  wonderfully  owned  her  labors.  i\s  a  conse- 
quence, she  secured,  during  that  summer  and  fall, 
$700.70,  with  which  the  work  for  the  winter  was 
carried  forward. 

Four  white  missionaries  were  employed  this  year, 
eight  sewing  schools  kept  in  operation,  and  a  head- 
quarters for  the  work  was  maintained.  The  homes  were 
visited,  and  instruction  given  in  matters  pertaining  to 
home  life,  personal  habits,  cleanliness,  and  propriety. 
"In  this  way,  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  homes  were  reached  weekly.  Mothers'  ^Meetings 
were  largely  attended,  and  frequently  the  schools 
were  turned  into  jM'ayer-meetings,  and  every  effort 
was  made  to  lead  the  people  to  Christ.     Thus  during 


24  Twenty  Years'  History 

the  winter  over  five  hundred  girls  and  women  were 
brought  under  the  influence  and  care  of  the  mission- 
aries, and  many  were  converted." 

In  the  fall  of  1879,  ^^^^  work  was  continued  and 
enlarged,  and  seven  missionaries  were  at  work.  "In 
several  of  the  Churches,  where  these  schools  were  be- 
ing conducted,  gracious  revivals  occurred,  and,  in  one, 
over  one  hundred  souls  were  saved." 

Among  the  white  missionaries  employed  by  Mrs. 
Hartzell  were:  Mrs.  M.  A.  Ryder,  Mrs.  Hathaway, 
Miss  Josephine  Cowgill,  Miss  Kilgore,  Miss  Page, 
Mrs.  Williams,  Miss  Emma  Tracy,  Mrs.  Joan  Bently, 
and  Mrs.  Dupre.  One  of  these.  Miss  Josephine  Cow- 
gill,  was  the  first  missionary  employed  here  by  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  after  its  formal 
organization,  and  she  rendered  efficient  service  in  this 
field  for  nine  years,  organizing  and  supervising  mis- 
sion schools,  and  doing  the  work  of  an  evangelist. 
Of  the  colored  workers  there  were :  Miss  Josephine 
Hale,  Miss  Taylor,  Mrs.  Grant,  Mr.  Dale,  and  Mr. 
Henry  Weber. 

Of  this  period  Mrs.  Rust  writes : 

'^During  the  winter  of  1879  ^^^  ^^^^  there  were 
thirteen  little  mission  schools  taught  by  students  of 
the  university.  They  were  partly  self-supporting,  but 
we  found  it  necessary  to  give  to  the  teachers  from  five 
to  eight  dollars  per  month  to  supplement  what  they 


Beginnings  25 

received.  Mrs.  Hartzell  visited  these  schools,  and 
secured  that  they  all  should  be  reported  to  the  Freed- 
men's  Aid  Society." 

During  the  winter  of  1879  and  1880,  at  Orange- 
burg, S.  C,  under  the  care  of  ^Irs.  L.  M.  Dunton, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1880,  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,*  under 
the  inspiration  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  work  there  in 
the  hands  of  Dr.  E.  O.  Thayer  and  the  teachers  of 
Clark  University,  certain  movements  were  inaugu- 
rated which  prepared  the  way  for  the  work  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  in  those  sections. 
At  both  these  points  the  Society,  when  afterwards 
organized,  found  its  work  waiting  ready  to  hand,  and 
these  two  missions  were  adopted  almost  simultane- 
ously with  those  which  had  been  in  operation  for  a 
longer  time  in  New  Orleans. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY 

Under  the  strain  of  home  duties,  the  care  of 
missions  and  schools,  and  the  raising  of  money  with 
which  to  keep  things  moving,  Mrs.  Hartzell's  friends 
realized  that  her  health  was  failing,  and  that  some 
way  must  be  devised  to  place  the  work  in  other  hands. 
With  this  hope  in  view,  she  and  her  husband  went  to 
ihe  General  Conference  of  ]\Iav,   1880,  at  Cincinnati, 


=  See  •'  First  Model  Home,"  Chapter  IV. 


26  Twenty  Years'  History 

fully  expecting  that,  under  the  inspiration  of  that 
great  body,  it  would  be  easy  to  secure  the  long-looked- 
for  ''home  organization."  Much  to  their  disappoint- 
ment, in  the  rush  of  other  interests,  the  matter  was 
ignored.  Some  of  those  previously  most  optimistic 
were  disposed  to  doubt  the  expediency  of  another  So- 
ciety, and  met  Mrs.  Hartzell's  private  appeals  with 
such  statements  as :  ''It  can  not  be  done."  "People 
in  Cincinnati  are  not  interested  in  the  Negro,  and 
work  for  the  freedmen  is  unpopular ;"  and,  "most  of 
the  prominent  ladies  are  absorbed  in  the  work  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society."  There  was 
"no  room  in  the  inn."  The  General  Conference  came 
to  a  close,  and  nothing  was  done.  Highly  commend- 
atory notice  of  the  work  accomplished  had  been 
placed  upon  record,  the  brethren  smiled  approval, 
but  provided  no  measures  of  relief.  "The  agony  of 
that  hour,"  says  Mrs.  Hartzell,  "I  can  never  forget. 
I  was  crushed.  How  could  I  go  home  to  those 
colored  mothers  who  were  praying  for  me,  and  tell 
them  that  the  Northern  women  were  not  interested 
in  them !" 

The  following  Friday,  Dr.  A.  B.  Leonard,  then  Pre- 
siding Elder  of  Cincinnati  District,  called  on  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Hartzell,  and  almost  immediately  asked :  "How 
is  your  Home  organization  coming  on?"      She  told 


Beginnings  27 

him.  "That,"  said  Dr.  ivconard,  "is  all  a  mistake. 
There  are  plenty  of  good  women  here  who  will  take 
hold  and  lead  if  the  subject  is  presented  to  them.  You 
}Ourself  should  niake  the  address.  They  will  listen 
to  you  gladly,  for  you  and  your  husband  have  lived 
and  worked  among  the  freed  people  for  years."  And 
Rev.  J.  N.  Irvin,  coming  in  just  then,  said,  ''And  I 
will  give  the  ladies  the  use  of  my  church,  Trinity, 
next  Monday  afternoon."  And  so  it  was  arranged 
that  ]\Irs.  Rust  should  preside,  and  Mrs.  Hartzell 
make  the  appeal,  and,  the  following  Sunday,  notices 
were  read  in  most  of  the  churches  of  Cincinnati 
and  suburbs,  calling  the  women  together  for  a  meet- 
ing at  Trinity  Church  at  2  P.  M.,  Tuesday,  June  8th. 
(The  day  had  been  changed  from  Monday  to  Tues- 
day.) Thus,  by  God's  blessing,  was  victory  snatched 
from  imminent  defeat. 

The  meeting  \yas  held,  and  it  was  resolved  "to 
form  a  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  with  rec- 
ommendation for  special  attention  to  the  Southern 
field."  It  was  not  a  large  gathering,  but  composed 
of  representative  women,  most  of  them  eager  for  an 
organization.  Mrs.  Rust  explained  the  object  of  the 
call,  and  Mrs.  Hartzell  set  forth  the  imperative  need 
of  a  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  In  an 
editorial  in  the  Western  Christian  Advocate  of  the  week 


28  Twenty  Years'  History 

following  may  be  found  a  passage  copied  from  the 
Cincinnati  Daily  Gazette  of  June  9,  1880,  which  reads: 

"About  fifty  ladies,  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  this  city,  met  in  the  lecture- 
room  of  Trinity  Church  yesterday  afternoon  to  con- 
fer together  concerning  the  organization  of  a  Society 
having  for  its  purpose  the  amelioration  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  freedwomen  of  the  South.  .  .  .  Mrs. 
R.  S.  Rust  presided  at  the  meeting,  and  the  needs 
of  the  work  and  the  methods  proposed  were  set  forth 
by  Mrs.  J.  C.  Hartzell,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  local 
movement  in  New  Orleans.  .  .  .  The  ladies  mani- 
fested a  willingness  to  organize  for  similar  work,  but 
Mrs.  J.  L.  Whetstone,  who  had  recently  returned 
from  an  extended  visit  in  the  South,  urged  the 
importance  of  extending  it  to  the  white  popula- 
tion as  well.  A  Committee  was  appointed,  viz : 
Mrs.  R.  S.  Rust,  Mrs.  Bishop  Wiley,  Mrs.  John 
Davis,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  and  Mrs.  James  Dale,  to 
consult  with  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  as  to  the 
form  of  organization." 

Other  meetings  followed,  continued  for  weeks, 
sometimes  two  in  a  week,  until  July,  by  which  time 
there  was  somewhat  of  an  organization,  weak  and 
trembling,  but  determined. 

Mrs.  R.  S.  Rust,  Mrs.  Francis  S.  Hoyt,  and  Mrs. 
J.  L.  Whetstone  had  been  appointed  a  Committee  to 
frame  a  constitution.  Many  hours  of  earnest  thought 
and   consultation  were   given   to  this  work   by   these 


Beginnings  29 

ladies,  and,  at  a  meeting  held  July  6th  at  Trinity 
Church,  they  presented  a  report,  which  was  adopted. 

The  instrument  then  and  there  approved,  and 
which  has  remained,  in  all  its  principal  features,  un- 
changed for  twenty  years,  had  not  its  counterpart 
elsewhere  in  the  Church.  The  Woman's  Foreign  ]\Iis- 
sionary  Society,  then  eleven  years  old,  was  composed 
of  seven  (active)  co-ordinate  branches  without  gen- 
eral officers.  The  new  Society  proposed  a  central 
headquarters,  with  a  connectional  Board  of  Officers, 
consisting  of  a  President,  five  Vice-Presidents,  a  Cor- 
responding and  a  Recording  Secretary,  a  Treasurer, 
and  twelve  resident  managers.  It  was  provided  that 
these  twenty-one  members  should  constitute  the  Gen- 
eral Executive  Board  (later  known  as  the  Board  of 
Trustees),  which  should  be  competent  to  transact  busi- 
ness in  the  interim  of  the  Annual  Meetings  of  the  So- 
ciety. Thorough  organization  of  the  Conferences  was 
provided  for,  and  in  the  highest  executive  body,  the 
General  Board  of  Managers,  which  should  convene 
annually,  each  organized  Conference  was  to  be  repre- 
sented. 

"Our  greatest  difficulty,"  says  one  of  the  founders, 
"was  to  secure  a  President."  Mrs.  Hoyt  was  elected, 
but  declined.  Many  were  willing  to  work,  but  all 
shrank  from  assuming  official  responsibility.  For 
an  entire  month  the   question   was  weighed   and   de- 


30  Twenty  Years'  History 

bated.  The  Committee  on  Nominations,  consisting 
of  Mrs.  Bishop  Wiley,  Mrs.  Rust,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark, 
and  Mrs.  Comegys,  were  instructed  to  make  final  re- 
port to  an  adjourned  meeting  to  be  held  July  loth, 
at  four  o'clock,  in  Trinity  Church.  Up  to  the  night 
before,  no  one  had  been  found  available ;  they  spent 
the  evening  in  anxious,  prayerful  conference.  Dr. 
Rust,  too,  was  deeply  concerned.  There  was  much 
prayer  for  divine  direction.  In  the  small  hours  of 
the  morning,  Mrs.  Rust  was  awakened  by  her  hus- 
band with  the  words,  "Elizabeth,  I  have  found  your 
President,  Mrs.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes."  The  answer 
had  come.  The  next  day  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee was  received,  first  with  surprise  and  question- 
ing, then  with  hopeful  enthusiasm.  Would  she  ac- 
cept it?  Would  their  action  occasion  invidious  com- 
ment and  criticism?  Would  their  motives  be  mis- 
construed? Trusting  in  God  and  believing  in  his 
guidance,  they  decided  to  forward  their  request  to  Airs. 
Hayes  through  Mrs.  Rust,  and  abide  by  her  decision. 
Mrs.  Hayes  was  at  this  time  in  the  White  House, 
and  preoccupied  with  her  duties  as  wife  of  the  Presi- 
dent, but,  as  a  devout  Christian  and  loyal  Meth- 
odist, she  cheerfully  accepted,  though  with  her  native 
humility,  the  profifered  responsibility.  Subsequent 
events  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  choice.     Honored 


B 


ginnings  31 


everywhere  as  not  only  the  "first  lady  of  the  land," 
but  as  a  woman  of  rare  strength  and  beauty  of  char- 
acter, her  influence  was  of  inestimable  value  to  the 
Society.  Intensely  patriotic,  she  who  had  followed 
her  soldier  husband  through  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
war  for  the  Union,  knew  how  vital  to  her  country's 
welfare  was  the  elevation  of  the  race  so  long  enslaved. 
It  was  supremely  fitting  that  one  who  had  made  her 
own  home  famous  as  a  model  for  temperance,  purity, 
and  piety,  and  so  had  "stood  bravel}'  for  the  sake 
of  every  home  in  the  land,"  should  become  the  first 
President  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  her  own  Church.  She  was  not  a  figurehead, 
chosen,  as  some  have  imagined,  merely  foi  her  high 
station.  She  was  a  woman  of  fine  capacity,  broad 
culture,  and  beautiful  self-poise,  profoundly  im- 
pressed with  a  sense  of  her  personal  responsibility  to 
God  and  his  work.  "She  was  God's  gift  to  us,"  said 
Mrs.  Dale,  many  years  later.  "He  surely  sent  Dr. 
Rust  that  thought  in  the  night  season."  Her  worth 
to  the  vSociety  is  evidenced  by  the  efforts  she  made 
to  be  preserit  at  its  business  meetings  in  Cincinnati, 
by  the  wisdom  of  her  counsels  and  her  zeal  for  the 
success  of  its  enterprises,  not  less  than  by  the  inspir- 
ing addresses,  to  which  every  year  large  audiences 
listened  at  the  opening  sessions  of  the  Annual  Meet- 


32  Twenty  Years'  History 

ings.     For  nearly  nine  years  she  honored  the  position, 
and  then  she  'Svas  not,  for  God  took  her,"  and  now — 

"  She  walks  transfigured  in  the  light 
That  crowns  the  hills  of  God." 

The  full  list  of  general  officers  elected  at  this  time, 
stands  as  follows :  President,  I\Irs.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  ; 
Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Bishop  Wiley,  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt, 
Mrs.  Bishop  Clark,  Mrs.  Amos  Shinkle,  Mrs.  J.  M. 
Walden ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  ]\Irs.  R.  S.  Rust; 
Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  James  Dale ;  Treasurer, 
Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark.  The  name  of  Mrs.  John  Davis 
was  shortly  afterward  substituted  for  that  of  Mrs. 
Bishop  Wiley  as  First  Vice-President,  and  Mrs. 
Wiley's  name  was  placed  first  on  the  list  of  the  twelve 
Resident  Managers.  One  of  the  conditions  of  Mrs. 
Hayes's  acceptance  of  the  Presidency  had  been  that 
Mrs.  Davis  should  be  her  first  assistant. 

With  the  organization  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  the  pressiu'e  of  responsibility 
upon  Mrs.  Hartzell  was  relieved,  and  she  retired  into 
the  privacy  of  her  home  life.  She  should  be  held  in 
grateful  remembrance  as  one  of  the  first  to  stir  the 
heart  of  the  Church  in  behalf  of  freedwomen.  To 
her  tender  solicitude  for  these  lowly  ones,  to  her 
fine  insight  into  the  possibilities  of  a  system  of  or- 
ganized work  among  them,  to  her  strenuous  exer- 
tions in  the  North  in  the  collection  of  funds  for  the 


Beginnings  33 

support  of  these  enterprises,  and  to  her  final  cour- 
ageous efforts  at  the  close  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1880,  must  be  traced  in  no  small  degree  the 
"beginnings"  of  this  great  organization.  Recog- 
nition of  her  valuable  services  appears  in  the  early 
"Reports"  of  Mrs.  Rust  as  Corresponding  Secretary, 
and  in  other  printed  documents  of  the  time.  "These 
missions,  inaugurated  by  Mrs.  Hartzell,  indicated  the 

coming  Society  as  the  foothills  do  the  mountains." 
4 


CHAPTER  II 

SOME   OF  THE   FOUNDERS,  AND   THE 

FIRST     FIVE     YEARS     OF 

THE    SOCIETY 

It  was  the  day  of  small  things,  but  the  few  that 
were  identified  with  the  new  movement  were  tre- 
mendously in  earnest,  and  God  was  with  them.  "Too 
much  praise  can  hardly  be  given  to  those  first  officers, 
so  timid  and  yet  so  courageous,"  said  a  contemporary 
observor.  Mrs.  Hayes  was  in  Washington,  and, 
while  her  name  was  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  So- 
ciety, it  was  on  the  little  band  of  women  at  Cincin- 
nat  that  the  burden  of  care  and  anxiety  rested. 

Upon  Mrs.  Richard  S.  Rust,  the  honored  first 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  now  devolved  the  duty  of  creating 
interest,  fostering  sentiment,  and  promoting  organ- 
ization. Henceforth  more  conspicuously  than  any 
other  was  she  "in  the  public  eye."  To  the  superior 
natural  endowments  of  this  eminent  woman  were 
added  a  high  degree  of  culture  and  consecrated  zeal, 
while  close  contact  with  the  work  of  the  Freedmen's 

34 


Some  of  the  Founders  35 

Aid  Society,  and  intimate  knowledge  of  existing 
conditions  among  the  freed  people,  completed  the 
equipment  which  marked  her  as  God's  chosen  agent 
for  just  this  emergency  in  her  day  and  generation. 
No  small  part  of  the  service  thus  given  was  doubtless 
rendered  in  the  unsettled  time  before  the  formal  or- 
ganization of  the  Society  in  June,  1880.  Providen- 
tially was  she  being  prepared  for  the  great  work 
awaiting  her.  In  June,  1876,  she  had  organized  an 
educational  movement  of  value  to  the  colored  peo- 
ple of  Cincinnati,  known  as  the  "Lincoln  Lyceum  and 
Industrial  School."  This  was  continued  for  some 
years,  and  included  courses  of  lectures  by  eminent 
speakers,  and  industrial  training  for  women  and 
girls.  Although  the  freed  people  had  first  enlisted 
her  sympathies,  her  altruistic  thought  speedily  took 
in  a  wider  range  of  vision,  and  included  in  the  pro- 
spective w^ork  of  the  Woman's  Home  ^Missionary  So- 
ciety other  fields,  as  witness  this  eloquent  extract 
from  an  early  address:  *'From  cabins  in  the  South, 
and  Indian  wigwams,  and  adobe  houses,  and  Mormon 
harems,  and  Chinese  quarters,  hands  are  reaching  out 
to  us  for  help ;  wistful,  yearning  faces  are  turned  to- 
ward us,  pleading  wdth  mute  eloquence  for  wisdom 
and  guidance." 

Her    distinguishing    trait    was    her    extreme    opti- 
mism.   An  unbounded  enthusiasm,  shall  we  not  rather 


36  Twenty  Years'  History 

say  a  sublime  faith,  carried  her  over  difficuhies  other- 
wise insurmountable.  She  had  the  God-given  in- 
stinct of  leadership,  and  her  sisters  made  no  mistake 
when  they  called  her  to  this  most  responsible  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  Society.  When,  eighteen  years  later, 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  a  stricken 
sisterhood,  came  to  lay  the  flowers  of  memory  upon 
her  new-made  grave,  there  was  uttered  no  truer  senti- 
ment than  this  :  ''Wliat  a  prophetess  she  was  !  Always 
in  the  lead,  always  a  step  ahead  of  the  rank  and  file." 

Standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Mrs.  Rust,  as 
pillars  at  the  portals  of  the  new  organization,  were 
other  brave  women ;  Mrs.  Hoyt,  noted  for  her  strong 
convictions  and  judicial  turn  of  mind,  and  Mrs.  Whet- 
stone, just  returned  from  a  sojourn  in  the  South, 
and  from  a  contact  with  the  work  and  with  the  friends 
of  Bishop  Gilbert  Haven,  which  had  filled  her  with  a 
burning  zeal  for  the  cause  he  had  loved.  These  three 
women  had  shared  together  the  labors  and  the  re- 
sponsibilities belonging  to  the  ''Committee  on  Con- 
stitution." 

There  was  scarcely  a  phase  of  the  work  for  at  least 
a  period  of  three  or  four  years  with  which  Mrs.  Hoyt 
was  not  identified.  Her  husband  was  editor  of  the 
Western  Christian  Advocate.  She  moved  in  the  inner 
circle  of  Methodist  ecclesiastical  influence,  and  thus 
thoroughly    understood   the    relations    of   the    various 


Some  of  the  Founders  37 

departments  of  the  Church  work.  Her  words  carried 
great  weight  in  the  early  councils  of  the  Society.  ]\Irs. 
Davis  leaned  upon  her  judgment,  and  called  her  "the 
balance  wdieel  of  the  Board."  She  was  for  many 
years  Auditor  and  Chairman  of  the  Publication  Com- 
mittee, and  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  for  Middle 
Southern  States.  In  1900,  by  authority  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  Mrs.  Hoyt,  conjointly  with  Mrs.  D.  L. 
Williams,  prepared  and  published  a  work  of  much 
merit,  entitled  "Souvenir  Exhibit  of  the  Homes  of 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society."  It  is  a 
volume  of  one  hundred  and  forty  illustrations,  with 
valuable  data  accompanying  each. 

Mrs.  Whetstone  also  was  one  of  the  few  whose 
deliverances  were  considered  indispensable  upon  most 
matters  of  importance.  Being  frequently  in  ill-health, 
she  was  not  always  present  at  the  business  sessions 
of  the  Board.  Then  the  Board  went  to  her,  and,  by 
her  bedside,  tangled  skeins  were  straightened  out, 
and  questions  of  momentous  import  w^re  solved  wath 
the  help  of  her  sweet,  motherly  spirit  and  her  large 
liberality.  From  the  days  of  the  seventies,  when  Mrs. 
Hartzell  went  to  her  for  advice  and  comfort,  even 
pressing  her  way  into  the  sick  chamber  when  Mrs. 
Whetstone  "could  only  look  and  listen"  to  her  earnest 
plea,  through  all  these  twenty  years  she  has  held  her 
place  as  "one  of  the  leaders."     Seldom  attending  an 


38  Twenty  Years'  History 

Annual  Meeting,  she  has  conserved  her  energies  for 
other  forms  of  service. 

A  prominent  leader  in  the  practical  direction  of 
the  affairs  of  the  Society  from  the  time  of  her  elec- 
tion as  First  Vice-President  vv^as  Mrs.  John  Davis, 
of  Cincinnati.  Years  of  activity  in  other  lines  of 
charitable  work,  the  Women's  Christian  Association, 
the  x\ssociated  Charities,  orphan  asylums,  and  the  like, 
had  prepared  her  for  successful  achievement  in  this 
the  crowning  interest  of  her  life.  To  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  composed  of  the  general  officers  and 
twelve  resident  managers,  is  committed  the  admin- 
istration of  the  affairs  of  the  Society  in  the  interim 
between  the  Annual  Meetings  of  the  General  Board 
of  Managers.  The  chairmanship  of  this  body  is  no 
sinecure,  and  to  this  responsible  position  was  Mrs. 
Davis  at  once  called,  and,  in  the  discharge  of  its 
arduous  and  difficult  duties,  she  remained  until,  upon 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Hayes  nearly  nine  years  later,  she 
became  the  second  President  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society.  Indeed,  from  the  date  of  the 
first  Annual  Meeting,  in  the  fall  of  1882,  she  shared, 
with  Mrs.  Hayes,  the  public  duties  contingent  upon 
the  office,  and  became  generally  known  as  the  "Act- 
ing President."  This  was  due  to  a  slight  deafness 
which  troubled  Mrs.  Hayes  for  some  years,  and  made 
her  unwilling  to  attempt  to  conduct  the  business  of 
large    assemblies.      An    intimacy,    beginning   in    girl- 


Some  of  the  Founders  39 

hood,  between  Airs.  Hayes  and  Mrs.  Davis,  and 
cemented  into  a  life-long  attachment,  made  them  true 
yoke-fellows  in  Christian  service,  and  Mrs.  Davis  the 
ever  ready  substitute  of  her  honored  friend. 

Cheerfully  accepting  the  burdens  incident  to  the 
routine  work  of  the  position,  Mrs.  Davis  had  this 
compensation,  that  she  was  brought  into  close  rela- 
tions with  individual  members  of  the  Society,  and 
rarely  failed  to  win  their  love  and  admiration.  Her 
intercourse  with  her  sisters  w^as  characterized  by  that 
''universal  responsiveness,"  which  made  her  one  with 
the  rank  and  file,  a  kindly  sympathy  which  gave  a  help- 
ing hand  to  the  most  humble  and  timid  among  them. 
When,  in  October,  1889,  the  delegates  from  all  over 
the  land  assembled  in  Annual  Meeting  at  Indian- 
apolis, and  looked  with  sorrowing  hearts  upon  the 
black-draped  chair  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Airs. 
Hayes,  there  w-as  not  a  question  as  to  who  should  fill 
it.  Mrs.  Davis  had  earned  the  honor  by  years  of 
actual  service,  and  her  loyal  co-workers  elected  her 
without  a  dissenting  vote.  Three  years  and  a  half 
later,  February  10,  1893,  she  passed  from  labor  to 
reward. 

She  was  an  acknowledged  queen  by  brilliancy  of 
intellect  and  social  prestige,  but  a  womanly  woman, 
a  working  leader,  a  strong  soul  made  gentle  by  the 
tenderness  of  Christ. 

A  factor  of  power  in  the   success  of  those   earl\- 


40  Twenty  Years'  History 

years  was  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  the  General  Treasurer. 
Her  work  was  trying,  because  new  and  unsystema- 
tized, and  there  was  no  established  precedent  to  be 
followed.  But,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  financial  side 
was  the  smallest  part  of  her  service.  She  was  an  all- 
round  worker.  Almost  never  absent  from  a  meeting, 
and  frequently  called  into  private  conference  with 
others  of  the  Board,  the  wisdom  of  her  counsel  was 
seldom  found  wanting.  Were  knotty  problems 
brought  to  her  for  solution,  her  strong,  practical, 
common  sense  saw  straight  into  the  root  of  the  diffi- 
culty. Few  questions  were  considered  settled  until 
they  had  passed  the  test  of  her  decision.  For  twelve 
years  she  gave  nearly  all  her  time  to  the  work  of  the 
Society ;  she  filled  a  place  in  her  day  which  there  was 
no  other  woman  to  fill.  Among  the  noble  company 
of  the  founders  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society  no  name  should  be  held  in  more  grateful 
remembrance  than  that  of  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark. 

Welcome  financial  aid  was  many  times  given  by 
her  husband,  as  well  as  by  Dr.  Rust.  "When  we  had 
no  money  and  no  credit,"  says  one  of  the  charter  mem- 
bers, "Dr.  R.  S.  Rust  and  Mr.  A.  R.  Clark  often 
went  on  our  paper,  and  tided  us  over  the  shoals." 

From  June,  1880,  to  November,  1883,  Mrs.  James 
Dale  was  the  Recording  Secretary.  She  was  much 
more  than  that.    She  had  early  been  moved  by  Bishop 


Some  of  the  Founders  41 

Wiley's  appeals  and  1j\  Mrs.  Hartzell's  self-sacri- 
ficing work,  and  had  helped  to  foster  sentiment  in  her 
own  city  in  favor  of  woman's  work  in  the  home  land. 
Among-  the  first  to  welcome  the  new  organization,  she 
was  also  among  its  most  faithful  and  laborious  ad- 
herents. Whether  in  the  administration  of  its  busi- 
ness affairs  or  in  winning  friends  to  its  support,  she 
was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  in  its  service. 
The  summer  vacations  which  took  her  to  the  lakes  and 
the  mountains  brought  no  forgetfulness  of  her  self-im- 
posed task ;  for,  year  after  year,  she  came  back  bring- 
ing gifts  and  singing  doxologies  of  praise.  When 
in  November,  1883,  her  husband  was  stricken  down  in 
a  moment  during  the  session  of  the  second  Annual 
Meeting,  the  Secretary's  pen  fell  from  her  hand,  and 
for  a  time  all  the  waves  and  billow^s  went  over  her. 
But  again  she  came  back  and  took  up  the  work  of  the 
Society  with  single  eye  and  full  consecration  of  pur- 
pose. The  last  nine  years  of  her  life  were  given  to 
the  work  of  the  Supply  Bureau,  which  department  will 
be  considered  at  length  in  its  proper  relation. 

Besides  these  general  officers  and  the  five  Vice- 
Presidents  previously  mentioned,  the  remaining  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Trustees  were  designated  accord- 
ing to  the  Constitution  as  the  ''twelve  Resident  INIan- 
agers.''  The  names  placed  upon  the  minutes  of  the 
Board  at  time  of  organization  were:  Mrs.  I.  W.  Wilev, 


42  Twenty  Years'  History 

Mrs.  Richard  Dymond,  Mrs.  J.  L.  Whetstone,  Mrs. 
C.  G.  Comegys,  Mrs.  J.  Bowman,  Mrs.  W.  F.  Thorne, 
Mrs.  A.  Wessel,  Mrs.  E.  House,  Mrs.  John  Simpkin- 
son,  Mrs.  N.  W.  Harris,  Mrs.  H.  B.  Ridgaway,  and 
Mrs.  Ada  Wiley  Jones. 

During  the  succeeding  two  years  Mrs.  Bowman, 
Mrs.  Jones,  Mrs.  Harris,  and  Mrs.  Ridgaway  removed 
from  the  city,  and  their  places  in  the  Board  wxre  filled 
by  others.  Through  these  changes  the  first  Annual 
Report  gives  the  following  list  of  ladies  as  the  resi- 
dent managers :  Mrs.  I.  W.  Wiley,  Mrs.  Richard 
Dymond,  Mrs.  J.  L.  Whetstone,  Mrs.  C.  G.  Comegys, 
Mrs.  J.  H.  BayHss,  Mrs.  W.  F.  Thorne,  Mrs.  Charles 
Coffin,  Mrs.  A.  Wessel,  Mrs.  E.  House,  Mrs.  W.  M. 
Ampt,  Mrs.  John  Simpkinson,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Haven 
Thirkield. 

What  a  cluster  of  glorious  names  fragrant  of  good 
deeds  and  known  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  Church,  then  and  for  many  years,  as  the  found- 
ers of  the  Society  and  the  staunch  supporters  of  its 
interests  in  all  the  days  while  it  was  still  on  probation ! 
Said  Airs.  Rust  in  1897:  ''W^e  have  great  cause  to  be 
grateful  to  God  that  so  many  of  the  strong  and  good 
women  who  were  with  us  at  the  first  are  still  with  us 
in  heart  and  service." 

Thus  equipped,  with  Mrs.  R.  B.  Hayes  as  Presi- 
dent,  Mrs.   R.   S.   Rust  as   Corresponding   Secretary, 


Some  of  the  Founders  43 

Mrs.  John  Davis  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, and  a  score  or  more  of  others  equally  zealous  and 
capable,  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  stepped  into  the  arena 
of  the  century  decked  with  some  of  the  brightest  jewels 
of  its  womanhood. 

These  women  found  no  light  task  awaiting  them. 

Upon  the  one  hand  lay  the  field — "the  greatest  mis- 
sion field  in  the  world" — the  home  mission  field,  with 
its  thousands  of  their  sisters  enslaved  by  vice  and  igno- 
rance and  superstition.  The  cry  of  these  darkened 
souls  had  gone  up  into  the  ear  of  God,  and  upon  the 
members  of  this  new  Society  had  been  rolled  the  bur- 
den of  travail  for  their  redemption. 

On  the  other  hand  stood  the  Church,  with  its 
eighty-eight  Conferences  and  one  million  women  mem- 
bers, awaiting  organization  and  enlistment  in  this  new 
wing  of  the  missionary  army.  And,  trusting  in  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  the  little  company  of  consecrated  women 
stepped  boldly  into  the  breach.  They  marshaled  their 
forces,  crystallized  their  plans,  and  sent  forth  their 
heralds  through  the  land  to  tell  the  story. 

To  this  duty,  that  of  presenting  the  new  Society 
to  the  Conferences  and  promoting  organization,  the 
General  Corresponding  Secretary,  IMrs.  Rust,  now 
addressed  herself.  Accompanying  her  hus1:»and,  the 
General  Secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  she 


44  Twenty  Years'  History 

visited  thirteen  of  the  fall  Conferences  in  1880,  and 
many  others  in  the  spring  and  autumn  of  the  fol- 
lowing year.  In  March,  1882,  Mrs.  Rust,  Mrs.  John 
Davis,  and  Mrs.  D.  L.  Williams  visited  Nevv^  England 
and  held  meetings  in  a  number  of  the  churches  in 
Boston  and  neighboring  cities,  and  went  before  the 
Boston  Preachers'  Meeting  with  a  plea  for  recognition 
and  co-operation.  ''Twenty-eight  spring  and  fall  Con- 
ferences were  visited  in  1883  by  Mrs.  Rust  and  Mrs. 
Dunton,  and  five  others  by  Mrs.  Rust  alone,  making 
thirty-three  in  all  visited  by  Mrs.  Rust  within  that 
year."  These  long  and  trying  itineraries,  which  were 
fraught  with  labor  and  anxiety,  were  carried  out  at 
the  personal  expense  of  the  ladies,  for  which,  in  time, 
the  Society  made  grateful  acknowledgment.  At  the 
second  Annual  Meeting,  1883,  it  was  stated  that  Mrs. 
Rust  had  expended  over  five  hundred  dollars  in  this 
way  in  the  work  of  1881  and  1882,  and  credit  being 
given  for  the  same,  she  was  made  an  Honorary  Patron. 
For  similar  reasons,  Mrs.  Davis  was  voted  an  Honor- 
ary Manager,  and  Mrs.  Bayliss  a  Life  Member. 

The  fruits  of  this  laborious  service  were  very  soon 
apparent. 

A  noticeable  feature  of  the  time  was  the  frequency 
and  heartiness  with  which  the  brethren,  in  Conference 
session  assembled,  volunteered  resolutions  of  sym- 
pathy and  appreciation,  and  cheered  the  infant  Society 


Some  of  the  Founders  45 

with  words  of  welcome.  At  the  time  of  the  first  Annual 
Meeting  in  October,  1882,  the  enterprise  had  been  ap- 
proved by  formal  action  in  forty-three  Annual  Con- 
ferences. Among  the  bishops,  Wiley  and  Warren  were 
its  staunch  friends  and  ever-ready  advocates.  In  most 
of  the  Conferences  visited,  a  competent  woman  had  been 
secured  to  act  as  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  Con- 
ference Societies  had  been  established  in  at  least  eleven 
Conferences.  The  most  efficient  among  these  early 
Conference  organizations  were  the  Cincinnati,  Erie, 
New  England,  Central  Ohio,  Ohio,  and  Rock  River. 

The  first  local  Auxiliary  was  organized  at  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Delaware,  O.,  July  2'j,  1880,  and  the  second 
at  Reno,  Pa.,  August  ist,  immediately  following. 

The  first  public  presentation  of  the  cause  was  made 
September  4th,  at  Cincinnati  Conference,  held  at 
Middletown,  O.  It  was  a  memorable  occasion. 
Ladies  from  Cincinnati  were  in  attendance  by  appoint- 
ment of  the  Board,  and  others  came  because  of  their 
deep  interest  and  anxiety.  A  preliminary  meeting  for 
women  was  held  in  the  Presbyterian  church  during 
the  forenoon,  and  a  platform  meeting  in  the  Confer- 
ence room  in  the  afternoon  was  well  attended.  Mrs. 
Davis  acted  as  Chairman,  Dr.  H.  B.  Ridgaway  con- 
ducted the  devotions,  Mrs.  Rust  presented  the  need  of 
Home  Mission  work  with  special  reference  to  the 
Southern  field,  and  Dr.  C.  H.  Pavne  and  Dr.  L.  D. 


46  Twenty  Years'  History 

McCabe  each  advocated  prompt  and  aggressive  action 
by  the  Society. 

The  extreme  caution  of  the  ladies  is  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  they  went  home  without  having  effected 
an  organization  for  the  Cincinnati  Conference,  al- 
though greatly  encouraged  by  the  reception  given  them 
and  by  the  gift  of  fifty  dollars,  which  was  handed  to 
the  Corresponding  Secretary  at  its  close  by  Mrs.  Me- 
harry,  this  being  the  largest  contribution  yet  received. 

September  25th  of  the  same  year,  after  a  similiar 
service  at  the  Erie  Conference,  held  at  Corry,  Pa., 
Mrs,  Rust  organized  the  ''Erie  Conference  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,"  which  has,  therefore,  the 
honor  of  being  the  oldest  Conference  organization  in 
the  Church. 

And  so  on,  from  point  to  point,  the  indefatigable 
workers  advanced,  sometimes  discouraged,  sometimes 
jubilant.  Often  enthusiasm  ran  high.  The  conscience 
of  the  Church  was  aroused,  and  men  and  women  were 
startled  into  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  saying,  ''The 
heathen  are  at  our  door."  Africa  as  a  mission  field 
was  eclipsed  by  the  "Little  Africa"  below  A^lason  and 
Dixon's  line.  The  action  of  the  General  Conference 
in  approving  of  the  work  as  reported  through  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  the  faith  and  courage  of  the 
women  engaged  in  the  work,  the  emphatic  approval 
of  dignitaries  and  statesmen  who  do  not  often  con- 


Some  of  the  Founders  47 

corn  themselves  about  "women's  doings,"  but,  most 
of  all,  the  presentation  of  the  tremendous  moral  issues 
involved,  seemed  for  a  time  to  promise  a  career  of 
unparalleled  success. 

But  the  biggest  wave  of  popularity  on  the  shore 
of  a  social  or  moral  agitation  has  an  undertow  of  op- 
position. Some  were  still  found  to  deny  the  need  of 
such  a  movement  or  to  affirm  that  existing  organiza- 
tions were  sufficient  to  reach  it,  and  many,  preoccupied 
with  other  branches  of  Church  work,  hesitated  to  ad- 
mit another  claimant  upon  their  sympathies  and 
bounty,  and  the  brave  sisters  were  often  saddened  by 
indifference  or  hostility  where  they  had  most  hope- 
fully looked  for  co-operation.  Help  for  freed  people 
was  not  in  all  quarters  a  popular  subject,  and  many, 
even  among  the  workers,  were  slow  to  perceive  that 
God's  thought  for  the  Church  in  this  work  was  not  to 
be  limited  to  one  race  or  one  section  of  our  country. 

In  three  different  localities  where  the  ground  had 
providentially  been  prepared,  the  Society  now  simulta- 
n.eously  adopted  work  already  begun.  That  at  New 
Orleans  has  been  described  at  length.  Miss  Cowgill 
was  formally  adopted  by  the  Board  in  the  summer  of 
1880;  also  Miss  Beeken  and  Airs.  E.  C.  Williams. 
They  continued  the  work  as  previously  conducted 
under  Mrs.  Hartzell's  direction. 

In  South  Carolina,  in  the  territorv  of  the  South 


48  Twenty  Years'  History 

Carolina  Conference,  a  unique  line  of  mission  work 
had  been  introduced  by  Mrs.  L.  M.  Dunton.  Dr. 
Dunton,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  a  cultured,  scholarly 
Christian  minister,  left  his  home  in  the  North  soon 
after  the  war  in  search  of  health,  and  found  in  the 
South,  not  only  returning  strength  and  vigor,  but  his 
life-work.  Scattered  upon  a  thousand  hills  he  saw 
these  poor  black  lambs  of  the  flock  without  a  shep- 
herd and  a  prey  to  all  that  was  evil,  and  thenceforth 
he  and  his  devoted  wife  consecrated  their  lives  to  the 
redemption  of  the  Negro.  For  four  years  prior  to 
1882,  at  which  time  he  became  President  of  the  Claflin 
University,  at  Orangeburg,  S.  C,  Dr.  Dunton  served 
as  Presiding  Elder  on  Greenville  District.  His  wife 
traveled  with  him  over  this  large  section  of  eighty 
charges,  visiting  the  colored  people  in  their  cabins  and 
giving  the  women  instruction  in  the  laws  of  health  and 
the  practical  moralities  of  the  Christian  home.  She 
organized  Sunday-schools  in  nearly  every  charge  with 
an  average  attendance  of  seventy-five.  Juvenile  Tem- 
perance Bands  in  almost  every  Sunday-school,  and 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Unions  among  the 
women.  It  was  said  of  her  in  1882 :  ''Through  her  in- 
fluence eight  thousand  five  hundred  have  signed  the 
pledge  on  this  district,  and  the  Prohibtion  ticket 
triumphed  at  the  polls."  The  beginning  of  Mrs.  Dun- 
ton's  special  work  was  under  the  advice  and  direction 


Some  of  the  Founders  49 

of  Bishop  H.  W.  Warren,  who  gave  hberally  of  his 
means  and  collected  funds  for  its  support.  When  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  came  into  being, 
this  field  was  given  immediate  attention,  and  i\lrs. 
Dunton  was  requested  to  continue  her  labors,  which 
she  did  with  great  success,  thenceforward  reporting  to 
that  Society. 

These  experiences  eminently  fitted  her  to  stand  by 
Mrs.  Rust's  side  in  many  a  Northern  Conference  and 
in  other  assemblages  wdiere  they  conjointly  presented 
the  work  and  enlisted  hosts  of  sympathizers.  In  more 
than  one  of  the  strong  Conference  organizations  of  the 
North  and  East  the  women  remember  with  gratitude 
the  days  when  these  able  addresses  inspired  them  to 
say,  ''We  will  gladly  help  in  such  good  work  as  this." 

The  third  in  order  of  inception  in  its  actual  work 
was  that  at  Atlanta,  Ga.  Miss  Sibyl  Abbott,  of  Bethel, 
Me.,  had  come  to  Atlanta  early  in  April,  1880,  and  was 
soon  drawn  into  an  effort  for  bettering  the  condition  of 
the  colored  people.  During  that  spring  and  summer 
she  did  much  visiting  among  them,  and,  with  the  help 
of  Mrs.  C.  C.  Mitchell,  matron  in  Clark  University 
(Freedmen's  Aid  school),  taught  a  day-school,  a  sew- 
ing-school, and,  with  the  additional  help  of  ]\Irs. 
Mitchell's  daughters,  supervised  a  Sunday-school. 

Bishop  Gilbert  Haven,  who  had  but  recently  died, 
had   been    peculiarly    identified    with    tlio    interests    of 


50  Twenty  Years'  History 

the  freedmen,  and  had  held  his  episcopal  residence  in 
that  city.  A  five-dollar  gold  piece  sent  to  Mrs.  Rust  by 
the  mother  of  the  bishop,  with  the  words,  "For  your 
work  among  freedwomen,"  was  made  the  opportunity 
for  an  appeal,  which  was  inserted  in  the  Church 
papers,  for  money  to  sustain  a  missionary  at  Atlanta. 
Within  three  weeks  Miss  Abbott,  being  providentially 
on  the  ground,  received  and  accepted  a  proposal  to 
continue  her  work  under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society.  As  (by  a  priority  of  only 
a  few  days)  this  w^as  the  first  mission  to  be  officially 
recognized  by  the  Society  after  its  organization,  and 
Miss  Abbott  the  first  of  the  workers  to  be  adopted 
and  employed  by  it,  Mrs.  Haven's  gift  is  technically 
spoken  of  as  ''the  first  contribution,"  and  Miss  Abbott's 
name  appears  upon  its  records  ''as  the  first  missionary." 

At  each  of  the  three  stations  just  quoted,  the 
work  developed  later  into  ''model  homes;"  at  Atlanta, 
Thayer  Home;  at  Orangeburg,  Simpson  Home;  and 
at  New  Orleans,  Peck  Home.  These  will  be  severally 
considered  in  order. 

In  the  winter  of  1880-81,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Bristol,  of 
Xenia,  O.,  w^as  sent  to  Altanta,  and  Miss  James  to 
Cliattanooga.  In  January,  1882,  Mrs.  Bristol  was 
transferred  to  Savannah,  Ga.,  to  inaugurate  work 
there  with  Mrs.  S.  M.  Lewis,  and  two  ladies  went 
to  labor  in  Nashville. 


Some  of  the  Founders  51 

Very  soon  great  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  managers  to  open  work  in  Utah.  In  view 
of  the  peril  to  our  Christian  institutions  from  Alor- 
monism,  and  the  need  for  woman's  work  to  supple- 
ment the  efforts  of  the  General  Missionary  Society 
in  that  territory,  prompt  action  seemed  imperative, 
and,  in  November,  JMiss  Smith  began  work  at  Ogden, 
and,  in  December,  Miss  Bardwell  at  Salt  Lake  City, 
where  ]\liss  Stevens  joined  her  in  January,  1881. 

The  first  hint  of  a  'Tlome,"  which  is  found  upon 
the  records  of  the  Society — that  word  which  was 
later  to  figure  so  frequently  in  its  reports — is  in  a  ref- 
erance  to  a  "Home  for  our  missionaries  in  Savannah," 
which,  though  small  and  insufficient,  was  found  to 
be  a  comfort  and  a  help.  It  was  a  rented  house,  fur- 
nished by  friends  in  Cincinnati.  ''Furnishings"  were 
also  provided  for  the  missionaries  at  Nashville. 

By  far  the  most  significant  undertaking  of  the  time 
was  the  proposition  to  build  at  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah, 
a  ''boarding  hall,"  or  Home,  for  the  students  of  Salt 
Lake  Seminary,  the  mission-school  of  the  General 
Missionary  Board  there.  The  Society  appealed  to  the 
Church  for  five  thousand  dollars  for  this  purpose,  and 
the  success  of  the  project  was  assured  when  it  was 
found  at  the  first  Annual  Meeting  that  of  this  amount 
one  thousand  and  twenty-four  dollars  had  been  se- 
cured,   fourteen    Conferences    ha\ing    contril)ute(l    to 


52  Twenty  Years'  History 

the  fund.  The  following  year  showed  a  large  in- 
crease^ and,  in  time,  the  enterprise  was  carried  to 
completion. 

We  see  in  this,  that  as  in  the  South  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  had  endeavored  to  supple- 
ment the  work  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  so  in 
the  West  it  proved  itself  the  handmaiden  of  the  Gen- 
eral Missionary  Society. 

The  first  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  was  held  in  Cincinnati  at  St.  Paul 
Church,  October  30,  1882.  The  Board  of  Managers 
had  not  previously  been  called  together  since  organiza- 
tion. ''We  were  too  small  and  too  weak,"  says  the  Re- 
cording Secretary.  ''An  anniversary,"  says  Mrs.  Rust, 
"had  been  held  in  Cincinnati  in  1881,  which  was  felt 
to  be  "the  culmination  of  the  year's  work."  Business 
of  grave  importance  was  being  transacted  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  and  organization  throughout  the 
Church  was  being  pushed  forward  as  rapidly  as  prac- 
ticable. All-day  meetings  were  held  at  camp-meet- 
ings and  summer  assemblies,  notably  at  Lakeside,  O., 
and  at  Chautauqua,  N.  Y.  The  latter,  July  28,  1882, 
was  especially  significant.  "Previous  to  that  time 
Bishop  Vincent  had  never  introduced  a  lady  on  a 
public  platform,  but  on  this  occasion  he  presented 
Mrs.  Hayes,  Mrs.  Davis,  and  Mrs.  Rust,  with  very 
gracious   and   complimentary    speech.      Dr.    John    M. 


Some  of  the  Founders  53 

Reid,  Missionary  Secretary  of  the  parent  Board,  made 
the  morning-  address,  which  was  printed  and  sent 
broadcast  through  the  country,  and  Bishop  Wiley  spoke 
in  the  evening  to  a  large  audience.  At  the  first  An- 
nual Meeting,  October  31,  1882,  Dr.  Isaac  J.  Lansing 
delivered  the  anniversary  address,  and,  in  the  busi- 
ness session,  a  motion  was  carried  to  inaugurate  a 
"model  Home"  at  Atlanta. 

This  first  year  was  a  time  which  sorely  tested 
both  the  faith  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. With  so  many  workers  in  the  field  and  organ- 
ization in  the  Churches  but  crudely  established,  the 
relation  between  supply  and  demand  was  irregular 
and  uncertain.  But  enthusiasm  and  faith  triumphed, 
and  the  advice  of  Dr.  Rust,  that  good  friend  of  the 
cause,  *'Do  something,  and  tell  the  people  about  it,  and 
then  they  will  help  you,"  seemed  to  be  accepted  as  one 
of  the  maxims  of  the  Society.  The  ventures  were  made, 
but  not  every  one  knew  that  this  same  friend  stand- 
ing back  of  the  treasury,  ready  to  help  in  every  emer- 
gency, was  often  the  secret  of  success  and  safety. 
Seven  missionaries  were  in  the  field  that  first  winter 
looking  to  the  Society  for  financial  support,  and  it 
is  said  ''the  necessary  checks  were  drawn  once  a 
month  and  Dr.  Rust  indorsed  them  all,"  trusting  to 
the  future  of  the  Society  for  reimbursement. 

The  divine  leadership  was  never  more  clearly  dem- 


54  Twenty  Years'  History 

onstrated.  They  walked  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight. 
They  planned  without  money  and  went  forward,  and, 
in  time,  the  money  came — God  honored  their  faith. 
At  the  time  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  General  Board 
of  Managers,  October,  1882,  four  thousand  four  hun- 
dred dollars  had  been  expended,  with  a  deficit  of  nine 
hundred  and  ten  dollars. 

The  second  Annual  Meeting,  which  was  also  held 
in  St.  Paul  Church,  Cincinnati,  convened  November 
20,  1883,  and  was  in  session  for  three  days.  The 
principal  features  of  the  meeting  were  the  large 
number  of  interesting  reports  from  missionaries  and 
teachers  in  the  field,  the  strong  plea  made  for  mis- 
sions in  Utah,  the  erection  of  the  "Home"  in  Salt 
Lake  City  reported  as  an  accomplished  fact,  and  the 
general  hopefulness  of  the  outlook  in  all  quarters. 
The  Treasurer's  report  showed  a  large  increase  in 
receipts  over  the  previous  year,  and  that  the  Society 
was  free  from  debt.  With  a  feeling  of  profound  thank- 
fulness the  Convention  assumed  for  the  coming  year 
the  enlarged  appropriation  of  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
Courage  and  faith  were  fast  banishing  fear  and 
timidity. 

The  year  1882-83  was  a  crucial  time  in  the 
history  of  the  infant  Society.  In  May  of  the  follow- 
ing year  the  General  Conference  would  be  held,  to 
which  must  be  presented  a  quadrennial  report,  and  a 


Some  of  the  Founders  55 

Constitution  properly  formulated  for  definite  adop- 
tion. It  was  necessary  that  the  relation  of  the  So- 
ciety to  other  branches  of  Church  work  should  be 
carefully  defined.  Its  relation  to  the  Freedmen's  Aid 
Society  had  been  settled.  Its  relations  with  the  Gen- 
eral Missionary  Society  of  the  Church  was  still  in 
doubt.  It  was  desirable  to  obtain  the  co-operation 
of  that  Society  in  such  a  way  as  should  best  advance 
the  interests  of  the  work.  The  question  arose,  would 
that  end  be  best  promoted  by  becoming  Auxiliary  to 
the  larger  body,  or  by  maintaining  an  independent 
organization.  The  desire  of  the  parent  Board  was 
doubtless  well  voiced  in  the  utterances  of  its  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  Dr.  J.  M.  Reid,  when,  at  Chau- 
tauqua, he  said :  ''We  want  to  pass  over  to  you  all 
our  mission  schools  in  Utah,  in  New  Mexico,  and  in 
Arizona,  and  among  the  Indians."  But  the  conditions 
offered,  viz.,  that  the  General  Missionary  Society 
should  act  as  trustee  for  the  Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary Socity,  and  that  the  Treasurer  of  the  former  should 
become  the  Treasurer  of  the  latter,'''  were  not  to  be  ac- 
cepted without  question.  The  women  were  divided  in 
sentiment,  and  the  contest  was  close  and  covered  a 
period  of  many  months.  Mrs.  Hoyt  and  Airs.  Dale,  as 
before,  and  some  others,  stood  staunchly  for  independ- 


*See  Third  Annual  Report  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  pages 
75  and  76. 


56  Twenty  Years'  History 

ence,  and  carried  the  day.  Co-operation  with  all 
existing  branches  of  Church  work,  and  loyal  sub- 
mission to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Missionary  Com- 
mittee in  the  field,  were  pledged  by  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  in  its  revised  Constitution, 
which  was  sent  up  to  the  General  Conference  of  1884 
for  approval. 

The  third  Annual  Meeting,  which  was  held  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  October,  1884,  was  the  first  to  convene 
outside  the  city  of  Cincinnati.  From  the  impressive 
address  of  Mrs.  Hayes  at  the  opening  session,  to  the 
comprehensive  resume  of  the  four  years'  work  by  Mrs. 
Hoyt  at  the  close,  it  had  in  it  the  ring  of  victory.  New 
life  and  inspiration  and  energy  permeated  the  body. 
The  secret  of  this  is  found  in  the  conclusive  action  of 
the  General  Conference  of  that  year,  by  which  the 
Society  had  been  taken  into  ''full  connection"  with 
the  Church.     It  was  no  longer  on  probation. 

A  growing  vine,  after  slowly  pushing  its  way  by 
patient  delving  of  roots  down  into  the  subsoil,  suddenly 
surprises  us  some  fair  day  by  throwing  out  right  and 
left  the  numerous  tendrils  by  which  later  it  lifts  itself 
far  into  the  sunlight.  So  that  period  of  the  history 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  about 
the  years  1884  and  1885,  was  characterized  by  un- 
expected   expansion    of    plans    and    methods.      Four 


Some  of  the  Founders  57 

years  of  slow  growth  had  brought  strength  to  the 
roots  and  fiber  to  the  stalk. 

Some  of  these  more  prominent  features  were  the 
formation  of  "lUireaus,"  the  publication  of  a  paper, 
the  development  of  a  Supply  department,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  General  Organizer,  the  movement  for  a 
training-school  in  Chicago,  and  the  origin  of  "Mothers' 
Jewels." 

Two  classes  only  of  those  needing  help  had  thus 
far  received  the  direct  attention  of  the  Society,  the 
freed  people  of  the  South  and  the  Mormons  of  Utah, 
but  already  the  increasing  care  of  these  missions  was 
proving  burdensome  to  the  general  officers.  Just 
previous  to  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1883,  Airs.  Davis 
had  said,  in  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  "Why 
can  not  we  have  a  division  of  labor  something  like 
the  bureaus  arranged  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment?" Mrs.  Hoyt  took  up  the  suggestion,  and 
formulated  a  plan,  which  was  brought  in  with  rec- 
ommendations and  nominations  to  the  ensuing  An- 
nual Meeting,  1883.  These  Bureaus  were  for  infor- 
mation onl}-,  and  did  not  carry  adniinistrative  functions. 
Following  this,  we  find  upon  the  pages  of  the  Annual 
Report  of  that  year  a  list  of  seven  Bureaus,  with  Secre- 
taries as  follows :  For  Colored  People,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Rust, 
Secretary ;  Alormons,  Mrs.  A.  F.  Newman ;  Indians, 


58  Twenty  Years'  History 

Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe;  Illiterate  Whites,  Mrs.  A.  C. 
Knight;  New  Mexico,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark;  Chinese,  Mrs. 
J.  H.  Bayliss ;  and  Western  Frontier,  Mrs.  C.  F. 
Springer.  At  the  Annual  Meeting,  1884,  they  were 
heard  from  in  due  order  for  the  first  time  with  their  re- 
ports. Only  the  two  first  named,  as  already  stated, 
could  report  actual  mission  work  in  progress,  but  that 
the  territory  of  the  others  was  not  all  on  paper,  is  dem- 
onstrated by  the  rapid  development  made  by  most 
of  them  in  the  years  just  succeeding.  The  Bureau 
for  Frontiers,  under  the  care  of  Mrs.  C.  F.  Springer, 
was  Auxiliary  to  the  Bureau  of  Supplies,  Mrs.  J.  L. 
Whetstone,  Superintendent,  and  the  former  very  soon 
became  absorbed  into  the  latter. 

The  necessity  for  providing  helpers  to  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  in  the  work  of  organization  was 
recognized  in  1884  by  the  appointment  of  Mrs.  Jennie 
Fowler  Willing  as  General  Organizer.  She  held  the 
office  by  authority  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  as  paid 
agent,  and  was  the  only  salaried  officer  of  the  Society. 
Her  reports  were  made  to  that  Board,  and  not  to 
the  Board  of  Managers.  A  woman  of  brain  and  cul- 
ture, and  a  silver-tongued  orator,  Mrs.  Willing  did 
good  work  for  the  Society  during  the  next  two  years, 
traveling  hundreds  of  miles  in  its  interest.  She  was 
one  of  the  five  Vice-Presidents  from  1886  to  1893. 

Among   other   ladies   who   promoted   organization 


Some  of  the  Founders  59 

in  the  Conferences  might  be  named  Mrs.  Bishop 
Wiley,  Mrs.  Angie  F.  Newman,  Mrs.  E.  E.  Marcv, 
Mrs.  John  Davis,  and  Mrs.  Colonel  Springer. 

Abnndant  evidence  of  the  advance  of  the  Society 
at  this  period  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  exten- 
sion of  its  work,  the  purchase  and  erection  of  new 
buildings,  and  the  improvement  of  those  already  in  use. 

A  valuable  property  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  was  secured 
through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Whetstone.  (Sec  Haven 
Home.) 

A  new  building  at  Orangeburg,  S.  C,  was  a  trib- 
ute of  love  from  the  ladies  of  Philadelphia.  (See 
Simpson  Home.) 

At  Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  a  beautiful  property  (see 
B.  L.  Rust  Home)  came  into  possession  of  the  Society. 

A  new  building  at  Atlanta  was  projected  (see 
Thayer  Home),  and  Davis  Hall  (see  Utah)  was  al- 
ready in  operation. 

It  is  w^orthy  of  note  that  at  the  Annual  Meeting, 
1884,  the  Society  felt  warranted  in  making  an  appro- 
priation of  thirty-six  thousand  and  nine  hundred 
dollars,  being  more  than  double  the  amount  received 
the  previous  year,  and  the  Treasurer's  report  of  1885 
shows  that  thirty-five  thousand  and  thirty-five  dollars 
had  been  raised. 

In  November,  1884,  just  following  the  close  of  the 
Cleveland   meeting,   steps   were  taken   by   the   Board 


6o  Twenty  Years'  History 

of  Trustees  to  secure  the  legal  incorporation  of  the 
Society  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  This 
was  consummated  under  date  of  November  24th. 

The  fourth  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Arch  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Philadelphia,  October 
23-28,  1885,  indicated  a  rising  tide  of  public  interest. 
The  beautiful  building,  at  the  time  of  its  erection 
one  of  the  finest  Church  edifices  in  Methodism,  was 
daily  thronged  with  large  and  attentive  audiences. 
Mrs.  Hayes  graced  the  platform  at  each  session,  and 
her  opening  address  gave  the  keynote  to  the  meeting. 
Doubtless,  large  numbers  came  out  of  curiosity  to 
see  this  former  ''First  Lady  of  the  Land,"  who  had 
become  famous  not  only  through  the  pomp  of  cir- 
cumstance, but  even  more  so  because  of  her  refusal 
to  allow  the  use  of  wine  in  the  White  House  during 
her  rule  as  its  mistress.  But  many  of  those  who 
came  to  see,  remained  to  hear,  and  went  away  and 
came  again  and  again  to  work  and  give  and  pray 
for  the  cause.  So  the  Father  makes  all  the  talents 
of  his  children,  even  those  of  secular  place  and  power, 
to  redound  to  his  glory,  if  humbly  and  conscientiously 
devoted  to  his  service.  Thus  was  being  demonstrated 
to  the  Society  his  leadership,  in  its  choice  of  this 
royal  woman  as  its  first  President. 

The  session  was  also  remarkable  for  the  many 
distinguished  speakers  of  both  sexes,  who,  from  time 


Some  of  the  Founders  6i 

to  time,  contributed  to  "tiie  feast  of  reason  and  flow 
of  soul."  The  personnel  of  the  body  itself  was,  as  al- 
ways, imposing.  Besides  the  company  of  "founders," 
many  notable  women,  not  named  among  them,  had 
now  come  to  the  front  as  active  and  acceptable 
workers.  Mrs.  Davis,  the  right  hand  of  the  President, 
stood  by  her  side,  acknowledging  a  debt  of  lifelong 
friendship  by  relieving  her  of  the  routine  of  busi- 
ness. Her  address,  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  was  full  of  practical  suggestions  and  unify- 
ing sympathy.  Mrs.  Rust  had  come  into  the  full 
stature  of  her  office  as  Corresponding  Secretary. 
Mrs.  F.  A.  Aiken,  who,  since  November,  1883,  had 
filled  the  chair  of  the  Recording  Secretary,  had  al- 
ready proved  her  worth  as  a  painstaking  and  effi- 
cient officer.  Succeeding  years  of  service  have  con- 
tinued to  demonstrate  her  value,  not  only  as  an  ac- 
curate scribe,  but  as  an  intelligent  and  prudent  adviser. 
She  had  as  her  able  assistants  at  this  meeting  Mrs. 
W.  A.  Ingham,  Miss  Martha  Van  Marter,  and  Miss 
Mary  A.  Lathbury,  all  well  known  in  literary  circles. 
Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  the  laborious  and  faithful  Treasurer; 
Mrs.  J.  F.  Willing,  the  eloquent;  :\[rs.  II.  C.  McCabe, 
the  rising  editor,  the  friend  of  the  Indian,  and  of  every 
good  cause,  always  a  lovable  personality ;  j\Irs.  S.  W. 
Thomson,  of  Delaware,  O.,  the  capable  publislier; 
Mrs.  Henry  W^ade  Rogers,  cultured  and  intellectual ; 


62  Twenty  Years'  History 

Miss  Jennie  M.  Bingham,  jnst  beginning  to  make  her 
mark  in  current  Uterature ;  and  Mrs.  E.  E.  Marcy,  the 
poet-scholar,  were  all  prominent  factors  in  the  suc- 
cess of  this  meeting.  There  were  also  Mrs.  Bishop 
Walden,  the  tried  and  true;  Mrs.  E.  V.  Culver,  of 
Reno,  Pa.,  one  of  the  "charter  members;"  Mrs.  J.  I. 
Boswell,  who  made  a  beautiful  ''response"  to  the  ad- 
dress of  welcome;  Mrs.  James  Mather,  who,  by  her 
gifts  and  a  private  enterprise  at  Camden,  S.  C,  had 
won  the  right  to  be  valued  in  a  peculiar  sense  among 
the  "pioneers"  in  work  for  freed  people;  and  Mrs. 
N.  C.  Alger,  Mrs.  A.  C.  Morrow,  Mrs.  N.  M.  Browne, 
and  Mrs.  C.  W.  Smith,  each  a  distinct  and  influ- 
ential personality.  Among  those  who  were  later  to 
make  themselves  potentially  felt  in  the  work  of  the 
Society,  we  find  such  names  as  Mrs.  Anna  Kent, 
Mrs.  G.  E.  Palen,  Mrs.  A.  DeGroot,  Mrs.  B.  F.  Ham, 
Mrs.  E.  W.  Simpson,  Mrs.  C.  W.  Bickley,  Mrs.  S.  T. 
Drake,  Mrs.  W.  L.  Boswell,  and  Mrs.  H.  C.  Hedges. 
Two  notable  personages  appeared  upon  the  plat- 
form of  this  Convention,  each  making  an  impression 
of  strength  and  individuality,  and  both  destined  to 
occupy  places  of  great  responsibility  and  honor  in  the 
future  of  the  organization.  Mrs.  Delia  Lathrop 
Williams,  of  Delaware,  O.,  the  strong,  clear  thinker, 
wise  in  counsel,  impressive  in  speech,  and  always  bear- 
ing the  interests  of  the  Society  upon  her  heart,  had  al- 


Some  of  the  Founders  63 

ready  come  to  fill  a  high  place  in  the  regard  of  her 
sisters.  Growing  with  the  years  in  influence  and 
usefulness,  she  became,  in  1896,  at  the  call  of  the  So- 
ciety, the  honored  guardian  of  its  treasury ;  and  when, 
two  years  later,  the  portfolio  of  the  General  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  fell  from  the  hands  of  the  lamented 
Mrs.  E.  L.  Rust,  no  one  was  found  so  worthy  to  take  it 
up  as  her  friend  and  co-worker,  Mrs.  Williams. 

Among  the  great  names  which  marked  the  roster 
of  this  exceptional  gathering  was  that  of  Mrs.  Clin- 
ton B.  Fisk.  Breezy  and  stinuilating,  her  very  pres- 
ence inspired  hope  for  the  future  of  the  Society,  which 
she  w^as  one  day  to  grace  as  its  head.  With  her  hon- 
ored husband,  Mrs.  Fisk  early  cast  the  weight  of  her 
cordial  approval  upon  the  side  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  and  later  her  comrades  recog- 
nized her  loyalty  by  elevating  her  to  the  highest  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  organization. 

Of  the  missionaries  present,  i\Iiss  Josephine  Cow- 
gill,  one  of  the  first  representatives  of  the  Society  at 
New  Orleans,  and  Miss  Ella  J.  Betts,  the  first  at 
Orangeburg,  spoke  of  the  work  in  those  Southern 
fields.  Mrs.  Isabella  Spurlock,  who  had  been  for 
four  years  a  missionary  in  Utah,  saddened  all  hearts 
with  the  story  of  what  her  eyes  had  seen,  and  her  ears 
had  heard  of  the  unspeakable  horrors  of  Mormonism. 

Mrs.  R.  W.  P.  Gofi^,  of  Bryn  Mawr,  Philadelphia 


Some  of  the  Founders  65 

Association,  eloquently  protraycd  the  wrongs  of  the 
Indians.  Mrs.  Dunton,  from  twelve  years  of  labor 
among  freedwomen,  came  to  tell  of  their  needs,  and 
the  success  and  adaptability  of  the  "model  Home." 
And  the  matchless  Frances  E.  Willard,  with  her  as- 
sistant, Anna  Gordon,  brought  greetings  from  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  that  great 
organization  which  stands  side  by  side  in  aims  and 
sympathy  with  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society. 

The  clergy  were  represented  by  Dr.  A.  Longacre, 
the  pastor  of  the  Church,  who  extended  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  in  the  name  of  the  ministry  of  the 
city  as  well  as  of  his  parishioners;  by  Dr.  (afterwards 
Bishop)  J.  H.  Vincent,  Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley,  Bishop 
Walden,  Dr.  A.  J.  Kynett,  Dr.  J.  M.  Reid,  Dr.  J.  M. 
King,  Dr.  McCartney,  Rev.  P.  A.  Franklin,  of  Utah ; 
and  Dr.  A.  G.  Haygood,  of  Georgia,  afterwards  one 
of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
vSouth. 

The  enthusiastic  "God  be  with  you"  of  these  dis- 
tinguished brethren  was  like  "cold  waters  to  a  thirsty 
soul"  to  the  tired  toilers,  and  when  they  had  looked  into 
their  faces  and  heard  their  words,  they  "thanked  God 
and  took  courage,"  and  went  in  the  strength  of  that 
inspiration  "many  days." 

While  the  personnel  of  the  fourth  Annual  Meeting, 
Philadelphia,   1885,  was  imposing,  and  the  esprit  de 


66  Twenty  Years'  History 

corps  sanguine,  as  is  indicated  by  the  many  "fine 
speeches"  left  on  record,  there  was  much  more  in  it 
than  mere  sentiment  and  enthusiasm.  The  reports  for 
the  year  show  a  steady  increase  in  the  amount  of  work 
accompUshed,  both  in  the  mission  fields  and  in  the 
more  thorough  organization  of  the  Society. 

Apropos  of  the  latter,  from  fourteen  Conferences 
organized  in  the  first  year,  the  number  had  increased 
to  forty-one  in  this  the  fourth  year,  and  delegates  were 
present,  at  this  meeting,  from  fourteen  States  and 
thirty-three  Conferences.  Everywhere  like  tiny  root- 
lets the  Auxiliaries  had  been  spreading,  all  uniting  to 
form  one  strong,  symmetrical  body ;  this  body  in  turn 
branching  out  into  a  multitude  of  directions,  must 
wisely  give  out  what  it  had  thus  received.  The  cor- 
relative adjustment  of  these  branches  demanded  the 
wisest  insight  and  forethought. 

Bureaus  had  been  ordained  to  this  end  two  years 
previous,  "Bureaus  of  Information,"  each  consisting 
of  a  Secretary  and  Assistant,  who  were  supposed  to 
collect  information  concerning  their  several  fields, 
systematize  it,  and  forward,  with  recommendations,  to 
the  Board  of  Trustees.  "The  theory,"  says  Mrs. 
Davis  in  her  annual  address,  "has  fallen  short  of  all 
we  hoped."  Further,  she  adds:  "We  now  come  to 
you  asking  that  the  original  Bureaus  be  clothed  with 
enlarged  responsibilities,  believing,  as  we  do,  that  this 


Some  of  the  Founders  67 

is  the  most  important  subject  that  will  come  up  for 
deliberation  at  this  meeting."  The  territory  of  the 
field  was  divided  into  sections,  a  Bureau  assigned  to 
each,  and  a  by-law  adopted  which  read :  ''Each  Bureau 
shall  have  entire  responsibility,  in  its  own  field,  of  exe- 
cuting all  the  plans  and  applying  all  the  funds  as  or- 
dered by  the  Annual  Meeting." 

The  colored  work  was  divided  into  four  parts,  the 
East  Southern,  West  Southern,  Middle  Southern,  and 
Texas  Bureaus,  each  having  from  three  to  eight  Homes 
either  in  operation  or  in  prospect.  The  Bureau  for 
Mormons  and  for  Indians  each  reported  encouraging 
progress,  while  others,  as,  for  instance,  the  Bureaus 
for  New  Mexico,  Alaska,  and  the  Chinese,  had  been 
spying  out  the  land,  and  brought  back,  not  Eshcol 
grapes,  but  such  appeals  to  the  mother  heart  of  the 
Church  as  led  it  to  crv  out,  ''O  Lord,  how  lonij  shall 
such  deeds  be  done  in  a  Christian  land  ?" 

From  the  time  of  the  fourth  Annual  Meeting  the 
Bureaus  have  accepted  heavy  responsibilities,  and  the 
Secretaries  have  borne  their  full  share  of  the  burden 
and  heat  of  the  day. 

No  position  in  the  gift  of  the  Society  involves  a 
larger  outlay  of  power — physical,  mental,  and  spirit- 
ual— than  sometimes  falls  to  the  lot  of  these  faithful 
servants  of  the  Master.  The  supervision  of  building 
enterprises,   the  care  of  property,   the   adjustment   of 


68  Twenty  Years'  History 

unforeseen  complications  in  the  Homes,  and  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  Bureau  to  the  pubUc  in  such  a  way  as 
to  secure  for  it  the  needed  financial  support — these 
responsibilities  call  for  qualifications  of  a  very  high 
order.  And  the  Bureau  Secretaries,  cheerfully  and 
without  pecuniary  compensation,  have  accepted  the 
trust  and  carried  the  burden.  Not  without  reward, 
for  they  "look,  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but 
at  the  things  which  are  not  seen." 

Emphasis  was  laid,  too,  upon  the  Constitutional 
provision  by  which  Conference  Societies  were  em- 
powered to  undertake  "special  work"  in  the  field,  thus 
forming  Committees  which  were  to  co-operate  with  the 
Bureaus  covering  the  territory  in  which  such  special 
work  was  located. 

These  Conference  Committees  on  Special  Homes 
were  to  be  held  subordinate  to  the  Bureau  with  which 
they  were  allied.  Some  modifications  of  the  earlier 
methods  of  such  Committees  were  found  advisable, 
so  that  later  we  find  very  few  Conferences  confining 
their  gifts  and  their  sympathies  to  any  one  special 
work,  but  rather,  by  taking  a  due  proportion  of  shares 
in  a  great  variety  of  departments,  they  cultivate  a 
broad  philanthropy  embracing  the  whole  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society. 


CHAPTER  III 

BRANCHING  OUT 

Having  given  the  reader  an  outline  of  the  preHm- 
inary  movements  leading  up  to  the  organization,  an 
introduction  to  some  of  the  more  prominent  workers, 
and  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  first  five  years  of  the  work 
of  the  Society,  the  historian  will  now  endeavor  to 
trace,  in  separate  detail,  the  rise  and  progress  of  its 
individual  enterprises. 

ORGAN  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

Every  organization  whose  work  is  done  ''not  in  a 
corner"  needs  a  herald  to  go  before  it,  to  report  its 
doings  and  to  announce  its  progress.  One  of  the  most 
important  movements  in  the  early  history  of  the 
Woman's  Home  IMissionary  Society  was  that  which 
led  to  the  publication  of  a  paper. 

With  the  first  year  of  the  Society's  existence 
capable  women  were  appointed  to  furnish  to  the  various 
Church  papers  frequent  articles  containing  informa- 
tion as  to  its  work.  This  was  faithfully  done,  and 
much   interesting   home    missionary    intelligence   thus 

69 


70  Twenty  Years'  History 

found  its  way  into  the  public  prints.  But  it  was  an 
inadequate  provision.  Like  a  child  learning  to  talk, 
the  youngster  was  bursting  with  an  ambition  to  make 
itself  heard — to  be  known  by  a  language  of  its  own. 
At  the  second  Annual  Meeting,  after  a  suggestive  ''Re- 
port on  Official  Organ,"  by  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  ''it  was 
moved  and  carried  that  a  monthly  paper  be  published 
by  the  Society."  The  following  day  the  action  was 
reconsidered;  the  ghost  of  an  empty  treasury  had 
risen  in  the  night-time  and  thrown  its  warning  shadow 
upon  the  struggling  enterprise.  The  whole  subject 
was  referred  to  the  "Committee  on  Finance  and  Mis- 
sion Fields,"  and  later  all  unfinished  business  was  left 
to  the  same  Committee.  A  meeting  was  called  for  the 
next  morning,  Friday,  November  23d.  The  place  was 
a  little  classroom  in  St.  Paul  Church  "where  this 
child  first  saw  the  light." 

"After  much  earnest  thought,  long  discussion,  and 
many  prayers  for  Divine  guidance,  it  was  finally  de- 
cided to  pubHsh  a  paper."  "Then,"  to  quote  from  an 
eyewitness,  "what  a  hush  fell  upon  us !  We  seemed 
weighed  down  and  speechless  under  this  new  responsi- 
bility when,  in  solemn,  measured  tones,  Mrs.  Whet- 
stone broke  the  silence  with  'Name  this  child.'  It 
was  named  for  its  mother — 'Woman  s  Home  Mis- 
sions'— and   then,    with    only   that    mother's   blessing 


Branching  Out  71 

and  a  baptism  of  love  such  as  mothers  alone  can  give, 
it  was  started  on  its  great  mission  of  good."  The 
motto,  "Blessed  are  ye  that  sow  beside  all  waters,"  was 
also  selected. 

It  was  to  be  an  eight-page  monthly  at  a  subscrip- 
tion price  of  twenty-five  cents.  Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe, 
of  Delaware,  O.,  was  appointed  editor,  and  Mrs.  Emily 
J.  Bugbee  publisher,  and  six  thousand  copies  of  the 
first  issue  were  to  be  printed.  On  the  day  following 
the  Board  of  Trustees  ratified  the  action  of  the  Com- 
mittee, and  a  guarantee  of  money  to  the  extent  of 
six  hundred  subscribers  was  pledged  by  individual 
members.  Mrs.  Bugbee  declined  to  serve,  and  Mrs. 
S.  W.  Thomson,  of  Delaware,  O.,  was  persuaded  to 
act  as  publisher. 

"And  then,"  says  one  of  the  Board,  *1iow  hard  we 
worked  for  its  success :  planning,  getting  bids,  and  seek- 
ing advertisements  and  subscribers !  How  anxiously 
we  watched  for  and  eagerly  welcomed  its  coming !"  So 
in  January,  1884,  the  unpretentious  ''little  one"  made 
its  debut  in  the  world  of  readers. 

"Two  surprises,"  the  publisher  relates  in  her 
sprightly  first  report,  "came  to  these  two  brave  women 
in  this  first  year  of  their  trying  undertaking — surprises 
disclosed  by  an  extensive  correspondence  extending 
through  the  entire  country."    The  first  was  "the  wide- 


72  Twenty  Years'  History 

spread  ignorance  everywhere  prevailing  in  regard  to 
the  Home  Mission  field  and  the  consequent  indifference 
concerning  it.  While  hearts  were  opening  and  treasure 
flowing  out  freely  to  stranger  lands  beyond  the  sea, 
the  utter  indifference  to  the  heathen  among  us,  making 
a  part  of  our  Republic  and  sheltered  by  our  flag,"  was 
most  appalling. 

And  a  year  before,  Mrs.  Clark  had  said  in  her  re- 
port :  "A  lady  said  to  me  recently,  'Through  the  read- 
ing of  the  Heathen  Woman's  Friend  and  the  education 
I  have  received  from  that  paper,  I  know  more  of 
India,  China,  and  Japan  than  I  know  of  our  own  new 
States  and  Territories — mission  fields  like  New  Mex- 
ico and  Alaska.'  "  A  worthy  tribute  this  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  organ  of  the  sister  Society,  and  a  most 
forceful  argument  for  the  existence  and  maintenance 
of  a  good  Home  Missionary  paper.  And  mightily  did 
these  revelations  strengthen  in  the  minds  of  the  editor 
and  publisher  a  conviction  of  the  need  of  the  work 
they  were  doing,  and  inspire  them  with  fresh  courage 
to  send  forth,  month  after  month,  their  little  white- 
winged  evangel  of  truth.  ''Not  only,"  said  Mrs. 
Thomson,  a  year  later,  "is  it  the  organ  of  your  So- 
ciety, but  doing  double  duty  as  a  pioneer  of  intelligent 
information  in  the  Churches,  dispelling  this  marvelous 
ignorance  that  has  somehow  gathered  and  still  prevails 
as  to  these  heathen  at  home," 


Branching  Out  73 

The  second  surprise  was  in  the  warmth  of  the 
greeting  the  paper  received  and  the  large  number  of 
devoted  friends  raised  up  for  its  support.  At  the  end 
of  the  second  month  one  thousand  two  hunch'ed  names 
were  on  its  books ;  at  the  end  of  the  third,  one  thousand 
nine  hundred ;  at  the  end  of  the  year,  four  thousand 
five  hundred,  with  a  balance  to  credit  of  one  hundred 
and  one  dollars.  And  "lo,  the  time  of  the  singing  of 
birds  had  come !" 

Increasing  interest  in  the  Society  and  a  demand 
that  would  not  be  denied  for  more  space  and  more 
matter,  together  with  an  encouraging  small  balance 
in  bank,  led  to  an  experimental  enlargement  of  the 
paper,  July,  1885,  to  sixteen  pages.  Four  months 
later,  at  the  Annual  fleeting,  came  the  crucial  test  of 
this  venture.  Everybody  was  pleased  with  the  in- 
creased size ;  but,  with  expenses  nearly  doubled,  and 
the  bottom  of  the  treasury  in  sight,  its  continuance 
was  a  question  of  grave  moment.  "It  is  too  much 
like  asking  a  river  to  run  up  hill,"  said  one  astute 
member  in  discussion,  "to  try  to  make  a  paper  like  this 
for  twenty-five  cents."  Nevertheless,  no  backward 
steps  were  taken,  and  it  was  done. 

Faith  and  works  prevailed.  Year  after  year  the 
loyal  women  of  the  Society  rallied  to  its  support.  The 
subscription-list  came  up  to  ten  thousand  in  the  third 
year ;  then  fell  back ;  then  slowly  crept  up  again  and 


74  Twenty  Years'  History 

beyond  that  point.  A  marvelous  carefulness  and  thrift 
obtained  in  the  publisher's  office,  friends  remembered 
it  with  occasional  contributions,  a  mailing-machine 
was  donated,  and  the  printing-house  firm  was  notable 
for  numerous  small  favors.  Surely  the  little  paper 
was,  as  Mrs.  Thomson  loved  to  name  it,  "the  child 
of  Providence,"  called  to  a  special  work,  and  immortal 
till  that  work  was  done. 

After  four  years  of  wise  management,  Mrs.  Thom- 
son resigned  the  post  she  had  so  ably  filled,  and  handed 
it  over,  with  the  tears  and  regret  natural  to  a  parting 
with  a  beloved  child,  to  Miss  Belle  Evans,  a  capable 
young  woman  who  had  been  associated  with  her  in 
the  office  from  the  beginning.  Miss  Evans  has  proved 
herself  an  efficient,  painstaking  Vv^orker,  discreet  and 
careful,  and  remarkable  for  her  unsparing  devotion  to 
the  onerous  details  of  her  business. 

Mrs.  Harriet  Calista  Clark  McCabe  came  to  the 
editorial  chair  of  Woman's  Home  Missions  without  pre- 
vious experience  except  as  an  amateur.  A  reputation 
for  literary  ability  of  an  exceptionally  high  order,  how- 
ever, amply  justified  the  call.  And  when,  years  before, 
Rev.  E.  D.  McCabe,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Philosophy 
in  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  captured  the  bright- 
eyed,  rosy-cheeked  ''preceptress"  of  Williamsport 
Seminary,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  bore  her  away  to  his 
Ohio  home,  it  was  not  designed  that  she  should  bury 


Branching  Out  75 

her  talents  in  oblivion.  Years  of  culture  and  dis- 
cipline quickened  her  intellect  and  sweetened  her  spirit. 

Quietly  settled  in  her  home  at  Delaware,  O.,  she 
had  thought  to  do  no  more  public  work.  In  the  midst 
of  that  solemn  conclave  that  November  morning,  there 
came  to  Mrs.  McCabe  this  unexpected  summons  to 
mount  the  tripod.  Startled  into  silence,  she  was  guided 
to  a  decision  by  the  gentle  hand  of  Mrs.  Davis  laid 
upon  her  in  sweet  command :  ''Calista,  it  is  of  the 
Ivord;  do  not  refuse."  "Surely,"  says  her  zealous  co- 
laborer,  Mrs.  Thomson,  ''surely,  when  this  brave  edi- 
tor stepped  out  into  this  untried  path,  it  must  have 
been  an  act  of  simple  and  yet  sublime  faith ;  faith  in 
the  Society,  but  stronger  faith  in  the  Divine  Hand 
guiding  it,  and  faith  in  that  unfailing  promise  of  'all 
things'  to  them  that  believe." 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1897,  held  in  Baltimore, 
an  advance  movement  was  determined  upon.  The 
Standing  Committee  on  Woman's  Home  Missions,  in- 
spired with  new  courage  by  the  pluck  and  persistence 
of  the  Chairman,  Mrs.  C.  W.  Gallagher,  gave  voice 
to  the  long-repressed  wish  of  the  people — a  demand 
for  a  better  dress  with  handsomer  trimmings  for  the 
paper.  The  size  was  to  be  continued  at  twenty  pages, 
with  a  tinted  cover  added,  a  serial  history  of  the  So- 
ciety, with  cuts  and  illustrations,  was  to  be  introduced, 
and  the  price  to  be  raised  to  thirty-five  cents. 


76  Twenty  Years'  History 

Mrs.  T.  L.  Tomkinson,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  ap- 
pointed to  write  the  serial. 

The  venture  was  received  with  general  approval, 
and  the  increased  expense  that  year  was  met  from  the 
receipts,  although  there  was  a  loss  of  fifteen  hundred 
subscribers.  Two  years  later  a  gain  of  one  thousand 
subscribers  was  reported,  showing  a  list  of  sixteen 
thousand  four  hundred.  In  December,  1899,  the  office 
of  publication  was  removed  from  Delaware,  O.,  to  the 
''Mission  Rooms,"  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City, 
with  Miss  Evans  still  in  charge  as  publisher. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1901,  at  New  York, 
Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe  resigned  her  position  as  editor. 
Eighteen  volumes  of  the  paper,  from  January,  1884, 
to  December,  1901,  bore  the  imprint  of  her  name  and 
embodied  to  thousands  of  readers  her  devout  spirit 
and  loving  personality.  In  her  impressive  farewell 
address  she  said:  ''All  is  well  that  ends  well.  I  turn 
over  the  leaf,  and  fold  it  down,  but  not  sadly;  for 
when  we  rise  tip  from  a  feast,  we  should  be  glad." 

Upon  the  floor  of  the  Convention  she  asked  the 
privilege  of  nominating  her  successor,  Miss  Martha 
Van  Marter,  who  was  unanimously  elected  as  editor 
of  Woman's  Home  Missions. 

Miss  Van  Marter  had  for  six  years  been  serving 
as  editor  of  Children  s  Home  Missions,  and  came  to 
both  positions  with  such  qualifications  as  could  only 


Branching  Out  77 

result  from  a  long  experience  of  exclusive  devotion 
to  literary  labors  and  a  heart  fully  in  sympathy  with 
the  aims  of  the  Woman's  Home  IMissionary  Society. 

children's  homh:  missions 

The  first  number  of  the  little  paper,  Children's 
Home  Missions,  a  monthly  publication  of  twelve  pages, 
was  issued  in  January,  1896.  The  close  of  the  year 
showed  a  subscription-list  of  about  six  thousand.  This 
had  been  made  possible  by  the  ''Guaranty  Fund"  led 
off  by  a  pledge  of  twenty-five  dollars  from  Mrs.  Samuel 
Hazlett,  of  Washington,  Pa.,  the  earnest  friend  of  the 
children.  Other  donors  had  added  to  this,  and  the 
work  of  the  editor  and  publisher  had  been  largely 
gratuitous.  This  "Guaranty  Fund,"  collected  from  a 
variety  of  sources,  was  continued  from  year  to  year. 
The  fourth  year  a  small  debt  had  accrued,  upon  which 
pledges  were  asked  and  received,  and  the  sixth  year 
it  became  necessary  to  make  an  appropriation  of  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  from  the  general 
treasury. 

These  seven  years,  if  they  have  been  lean  years 
to  the  publisher,  have  presented  a  feast  of  fat  things 
to  the  readers  of  the  little  paper.  The  child  of  their 
love  to  Miss  Van  Marter  and  Miss  Evans,  it  has  been 
made  a  beautiful  sheet,  calculated  to  do  great  good 
and  worthy  of  better  support. 


78  Twenty  Years'  History 

BUREAU  FOR  SUPPLIES 

The  Department  of  Supplies  was  one  of  the  most 
promising  offshoots  in  the  early  growth  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  No  sooner  was 
the  Society  organized  than  the  frontier  preachers  on 
their  hard  circuits  in  the  West  began  to  be  heard  from, 
and  pleading  letters  came  pouring  in  upon  the  women 
at  Cincinnati,  begging  that  they  be  remembered  in 
the  large  plans  of  their  Eastern  sisters.  Ministers, 
laboring  in  these  less  favored  sections  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Parent  Board,  and  necessarily  receiv- 
ing the  barest  pittance  upon  which  to  support  their 
families,  caught  eagerly  at  this  ray  of  hope,  and  were 
not  disappointed.  Responses  were  prompt,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  first  Annual  Meeting,  1882,  boxes  of  sup- 
plies amounting  in  value  to  one  thousand  five  hundred 
and  forty  dollars  had  been  sent  to  missions  and  schools. 
At  th€  second  Annual  Meeting,  in  the  following  year, 
a  plan  was  systematized  by  which  those  needing  help 
could  be  put  into  correspondence  with  Churches  and 
Auxiliaries  willing  to  respond,  and  circulars  were  sent 
out  and  notices  inserted  in  the  Church  papers  explain- 
ing the  plan.  Presiding  elders  of  destitute  districts 
were  interested  and  instructed  to  investigate  cases  of 
need,  and  large  quantities  of  supplies  were  sent  to 
various  headquarters  to  be  distributed  by  them.     So 


Branching  Out  79 

by  means  of  this  Bureau  was  inaugurated  a  system 
which  for  tw^enty  years  has  stood  for  the  rehef  of 
hundreds  of  noble  men  and  women  who  have  sacri- 
ficed their  own  ease  that  Christianity  upon  the  frontier 
might  keep  pace  with  the  development  of  the  country. 
Through  this  same  medium  also  many  boys  and  girls 
and  young  men  and  young  women  have  been  enabled 
to  remain  in  the  schools  and  Homes  because  of  the 
clothing  in  this  way  provided. 

And  those  who  have  helped  have  not  been  without 
their  reward.  What  histories  of  love  and  sympathy 
and  sacrifice  have  been  packed  into  these  self-same 
boxes  and  barrels  between  the  layers  of  drygoods  and 
groceries !  No  wonder  that  one  wrote  in  that  early 
time,  as  hundreds  have  realized  since :  *'We  are  packing 
a  box ;  and,  while  doing  it,  our  hearts  are  being  packed 
with  the  love  of  God." 

Mrs.  Whetstone,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  So- 
ciety and  among  its  most  capable  leaders,  w^as  the  Sec- 
retary of  this  Bureau  from  its  formation  till  1886. 
''She  took  charge  of  it,"  says  one,  ''at  the  beginning, 
and  carried  it  till  it  was  a  great  work  in  itself."  In 
1886  she  reported  goods  distributed  valued  at  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars.  This  was  enough  to  fill  one 
woman's  heart  and  hands,  and  as  Airs.  Whetstone  was 
Secretary  of  the  Bureau  for  East  Southern  States  and 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Alissionarv  Candidates, 


8o  Twenty  Years'  History 

she  was  relieved  of  the  care  of  the  Bureau  for  Sup- 
pHes,  and  Mrs.  Mary  T.  Lodge,  of  Indianapohs,  be- 
came her  efficient  successor.  The  work  broadened  in 
her  hands,  and  in  two  years  nearly  doubled.  Failures 
of  crops  from  drought  in  the  West  turned  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  people  in  that  direction,  and  hundreds 
of  barrels  and  boxes  went  to  help  needy  ministers  who 
were  ready  to  say  in  response,  *'We  could  not  stay 
in  these  hard  fields  were  it  not  for  this  help."  In  the 
fall  of  1 89 1,  after  five  years'  good  service,  Mrs.  Lodge 
resigned  the  Bureau,  and  Mrs.  May  Leonard  Wells 
(afterwards  Mrs.  Woodruff)  filled  the  office  for  one 
year. 

In  October,  1892,  that  rare  motherly  woman,  Mrs. 
James  Dale,  was  elected  as  Secretary  of  this  Bureau. 
Thenceforward  her  life  was  devoted  to  its  interests. 
It  became  the  child  of  her  love.  The  hundreds  of  min- 
isters on  the  frontiers  who  without  the  help  of  this 
department  must  see  their  families  go  into  the  long, 
hard  winters  ill-fed  and  poorly  clothed,  these  she  car- 
ried upon  her  heart  as  though  they  were  her  ''own." 
She  visited  the  Mission  Conferences  many  times,  and 
on  such  occasions  the  grateful  preachers  gathered 
around  her,  happy  to  greet  their  sweet-faced  bene- 
factress. In  March,  1901,  she  wrote:  'T  must  stop 
and  rest  awhile ;  then  I  may  be  able  to  go  on ;  if  not, 
all  well,  work  done — I  trust  well  done ;  but  God  knows. 


Branching  Out  8i 

If  I  can  not  go  on  next  fall,  my  chief  anxiety  will  be 
these  six  hundred  ministers  and  their  families  who  for 
ten  years  have  looked  to  me  as  a  mother." 

When  the  autumn  came,  November  6,  1901,  she  fell 
asleep  at  her  home  in  Cincinnati,  while  her  co-workers 
of  twenty  years  in  the  Woman's  Home  iNIissionary 
Society  and  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  were  attending 
the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  General  Board  in  New 
York  City.  In  her  last  report  of-  the  Bureau,  that  of 
1900,  the  estimated  value  of  supplies  for  the  year  was 
seventy-one  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
dollars. 

Mrs.  H.  C.  Jennings,  of  Cincinnati,  was  appointed 
her  successor,  and  soon  after  entered  upon  her  duties. 

BUREAU  FOR  MORMONS 

The  Bureau  for  Mormons  has  been  fortunate  in  its 
Secretaries.  Mrs.  Angie  F.  Newman,  of  Nebraska, 
was  the  first,  having  served  from  its  formation  till 
1885,  when  she  was  succeeded  by  Mrs.  S.  W.  Thom- 
son, of  Delaware,  O.,  whose  fine  literary  productions 
graced  the  Reports  for  two  years.  Airs.  R.  W.  P. 
Goft',  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  did  faithful  service  for  the 
Bureau  from  1888  to  1893.  She  visited  the  field  at  her 
own  expense,  and  carried  the  work  with  practical  abil- 
ity. Mrs.  B.  S.  Potter,  of  Bloomington,  111.,  came 
into  the  oftlce  in  1894.     She  brought  to  the  work  great 


82  Twenty  Years'  History 

enthusiasm  and  rare  gifts  as  a  public  speaker  and  ad- 
ministrator, and  it  has  greatly  prospered  in  her  hands. 
She  has  been,  since  1889,  also  one  of  the  General  Or- 
ganizers of  the  Society,  and  is  well  and  widely  known. 

UTAH — DAVIS    HALIv 

Mormonism,  as  it  exists  in  Utah  and  is  being  propa- 
gated throughout  the  country  and  the  world,  is  surely 
the  "bar  sinister"  upon  the  fair  escutcheon  of  Amer- 
ican civilization,  an  anachronism  in  a  century  which 
stands  for  the  highest  type  of  progress,  civil  and  re- 
ligious. The  chief  objective  point  of  all  missionary 
efifort  in  Utah  naturally  became  the  expulsion  of  the 
Mormon  seraglio  and  the  redemption  of  woman  from 
the  thraldom  of  polygamy.  The  work  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Societies  soon  developed  exigencies  which 
could  only  be  met  by  the  co-operation  of  Christian 
women. 

The  General  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  opened  work  in  Utah  in  1870, 
twenty-three  years  after  the  Latter-day  Saints  had 
taken  possession  of  the  country.  Rev.  G.  M.  Pierce, 
the  first  Methodist  missionary,  arrived  in  Salt  Lake 
City  on  the  8th  of  May  of  that  year.  Two  days  later 
an  unfinished  hayloft  above  a  livery  stable  was  rented 
for  religious  service.  After  six  days,  the  first  Meth- 
odist class  was  formed,  and  one  month  later  the  first 


Branching  Out  83 

vSunday-school  met  with  three  teachers  and  seventeen 
pupils.  On  May  20th  twelve  members  were  enrolled 
as  communicants. 

Ten  years  after  this  entrance  into  the  territory  we 
find,  standing  upon  the  very  ground  where  the  mis- 
sionary first  encamped,  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  of  Salt  Lake  City,  a  fine  edifice  costing  sixty 
thousand  dollars,  and,  connected  with  it,  the  Salt  Lake 
Seminary,  under  the  direction  of  the  Parent  Board. 

The  establishment  of  free  schools  had  been  found 
to  be  a  strategic  point  in  the  prosecution  of  this  mis- 
sionary w^ork.  Wherever  such  could  be  successfully 
carried  on,  the  way  was  opened  for  Sunday-schools  and 
other  Church  services.  The  children  of  the  Gentiles, 
who  had  now  come  into  the  country  in  considerable 
numbers,  of  apostate  Mormons,  and  not  a  few  of  the 
numerous  offspring  of  the  ''faithful"  even,  could  thus 
be  reached,  because  little  was  taught  in  the  Mormon 
schools  besides  the  tenets  of  their  faith.  Believing  this 
educational  work  to  be  the  surest  avenue  of  approach 
to  the  citadel  of  sin  entrenched  behind  these  pernicious 
doctrines,  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  had 
willingly  lent  its  aid  for  co-operation  along  these  lines, 
beginning,  in  1881  and  1882,  by  sharing  in  the  ex- 
pense of  teachers  employed  in  the  schools  of  the 
Clmrch  Missionary  Society.  Following  this,  the  obli- 
gation  so  bravely  assumed   by  the   infant    Society   as 


84  Twenty  Years'  History 

early  as  1881,  acting  under  the  advice  of  Bishop  Wiley, 
the  supervising  bishop  of  Utah,  to  provide  a  Home 
and  boarding  department  for  Salt  Lake  Seminary,  was 
carried  to  a  successful  issue  in  1883. 

The  building  was  contracted  for  in  July  of  that 
year,  and  completed  in  December.  The  encouraging 
report  of  ''one  thousand  and  twenty-four  dollars  in  the 
special  fund  for  Utah,"  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
previous  year,  had  so  stimulated  the  workers  that  per- 
sistent agitation  of  the  enterprise  had  been  continued, 
and  during  the  summer  months,  while  the  actual  work 
of  building  was  in  progress  in  the  far  Western  city, 
all  over  the  Church  in  the  East  the  faithful  women 
were  busy  soliciting  contributions ;  and  there  was  a 
ring  of  exultation  in  the  doxology  they  sung  at  the 
second  Annual  Meeting,  in  1883,  when  the  announce- 
ment was  made  that  the  fund  amounted  to  four  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  seventy-three  dollars.  To  this 
was  added,  for  furnishing  and  equipment  of  the  Home, 
the  handsome  gift  of  one  thousand  dollars,  which  was 
solicited  and  contributed  by  Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  that 
elect  lady  whose  name  was  destined  later  to  adorn  the 
history  of  the  Society  as  its  third  President. 

The  building  was  completed,  and  was  named  ''Davis 
Hall,"  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Dr.  John  Davis,  of  Cincinnati. 

One  hundred  and  twelve  day  pupils  were  enrolled 
at  this  time,  and  the  opening  of  the  hall  was  a  source 


Branching  Out  8$ 

of  great  encouragement  to  the  workers.  The  number 
of  girls  received  into  the  Home  as  boarders  never  at 
any  time  equaled  the  anticipations  of  its  projectors, 
and,  after  a  time,  this  plan  was  abandoned;  but  the 
hall  continued  to  serve  a  good  purpose  as  the  home 
and  headquarters  of  all  the  missionary  workers  in  the 
city,  ''The  six  thousand  dollars  invested  in  it,"  says 
one  of  the  early  workers  in  Cincinnati,  "paid  a  good 
percentage  in  the  enthusiasm  awakened  in  behalf  of 
the  Society  by  the  effort  made  to  secure  it ;  in  the  good- 
will of  the  General  Missionary  Society,  and  in  its  later 
use  as  a  Deaconess  Home  under  the  direction  of  the 
Deaconess  Bureau  of  the  Woman's  Home  ^Missionary 
Society." 

At  the  second  Annual  Meeting,  in  1883,  tli€  most 
prominent  topic  of  discussion  was  this  Mormon  prob- 
lem and  the  best  means  of  propagating  a  pure  gospel 
among  this  deluded  people. 

Mrs.  Angie  F.  Newman,  who  has  given  the  best 
years  of  her  life  to  effort  for  the  overthrow  of  this 
monster  evil,  appeared  for  the  first  time  as  a  member 
of  the  body,  and  thrilled  all  hearts  with  her  eloquent 
recitals  of  the  wrongs  of  Utah's  degraded  womanhood. 
Bishop  Wiley  added  words  of  weighty  counsel,  and  a 
series  of  strong  resolutions  was  adopted  calling  upon 
the  Government  for  a  radical  change  of  policy  towards 
the  Mormon  hierarchy.    A  circular  letter,  setting  forth 


86  Twenty  Years'  History 

the  abominations  of  this  baleful  system,  and  warning 
the  innocent  and  unwary  against  its  wiles,  was  ordered 
printed  and  distributed,  both  in  our  own  country  and 
through  our  American  consuls  abroad,  especially  in 
Wales  and  Scandinavia,  where  the  Mormons  were  mak- 
ing many  converts. 

A  movement  to  establish  in  Salt  Lake  City  an 
"Industrial  Home"  which  should  be  an  asylum  for 
women  wishing  to  renounce  Mormonism,  met  with 
great  favor  at  this  Annual  Meeting.  Letters  approv- 
ing such  an  enterprise  were  read  from  the  Governor 
of  Utah  and  the  missionary  authorities  at  Salt  Lake, 
and  Bishop  Wiley  made  a  stirring  speech  indorsing 
the  plan. '  During  two  years  of  appeal  and  agitation 
this  "Rescue  Home"  was  kept  before  the  Society  and 
the  Church,  and  in  the  meantime,  through  Mrs.  New- 
man's energetic  efforts  at  Washington,  an  appropria- 
tion was  secured  for  the  purpose. 

Says  one  who  is  familiar  with  this  history:  "Con- 
gress made  three  separate  appropriations,  amounting 
to  ninety  thousand  dollars.  The  Committee  at  Salt 
Lake  paid  ten  thousand  dollars  for  lots,  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars  for  buildings  and  furnishings.  The 
Home  was  opened,  and  for  five  successive  years  four 
thousand  dollars  a  year  was  appropriated  by  the  Gov- 
ernment for  the  maintenance  of  the  institution.  Many 
and  many  a  Mormon  woman,  sometimes  with  her  chil- 


Branching  Out  87 

dren,  was  thus  cared  for  in  those  years  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  money  received." 

But,  being  supported  by  a  Government  appropria- 
tion, the  management  fell  into  the  hands  of.  political 
schemers,  and  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society, 
being  powerless  to  direct,  withdrew  from  co-operation 
with  it.  Nevertheless,  the  movement  to  provide  such 
an  asylum  and  the  agitation  attending  it  had  immense 
influence  throughout  the  Territory  in  intensifying  an 
unrest  in  the  minds  of  the  women  and  in  creating  a 
sentiment  against  polygamy. 

It  did  much,  too,  towards  leading  members  of  Con- 
gress to  vote  for  the  Edmunds  Law,  because  they  saw 
in  it  a  way  to  provide  for  the  women  and  children 
after  the  disruption  of  families  which  the  passage  of 
that  law  might  precipitate. 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  won  for 
itself  the  gratitude  of  the  non-Mormon  people  in  thus 
making  it  possible  for  women  to  be  cared  for  under 
the  protection  of  the  flag.  It  was  one  of  the  great  fac- 
tors which  combined  to  produce  a  better  state  of  things 
in  Utah. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1884  a  new  department 
was  inaugurated  in  the  Utah  work,  the  "Lucy  Hayes 
schoolhouses"  being  introduced  at  this  time.  Inex- 
pensive buildings  were  to  be  erected  all  through  the 
Territory  to  be  used  for  schools,  mission-houses,  and 


88  Twenty  Years'  History 

religious  meetings,  and  five  thousand  dollars  were  ap- 
propriated for  the  purpose.  It  was  said  that  in  more 
than  two  hundred  towns,  thriving  centers  of  Mormon 
domination,  these  small  Christian  schools  could  be 
placed  to  advantage.  Again,  as  in  the  past,  the  So- 
ciety followed  the  finger  of  Providence,  stepped  into 
an  untried  path,  and  went  forward  by  faith.  The  re- 
sults justified  the  means.  Fourteen  Lucy  Hayes 
schoolhouses  were  erected  at  as  many  different  points, 
and  supplied  with  consecrated  teachers.  Reviewing 
this  history,  Dr.  Iliff  said :  ''That  was  a  master  stroke 
for  Utah.  Your  small  schoolhouses  gave  an  impulse 
for  public-school  education  such  as  nothing  else  did. 
They  were  the  very  thing  for  the  time." 

There  was  a  period  of  six  or  eight  years  when  it 
was  believed  that  the  introduction  of  the  public-school 
system  into  Utah  had  done  away  with  the  need  for 
maintaining  parochial  schools,  and  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  following  the  lead  of  the  Parent 
Board,  withdrew  its  teachers,  and  sought  to  utilize 
other  methods.  Later  this  was  considered  a  mistake, 
as  public  schools  controlled  by  Mormons  admitted  only 
Mormon  teachers  and  compelled  the  teaching  of  Mor- 
mon doctrines.  But  the  house-to-house  missionary  and 
evangelist  has  been  kept  continuously  in  the  field 
wherever  practicable.  Of  this  class,  Mrs.  Spurlock 
and  Mrs.  Saugstad  were  in  the  early  times  shining 


Branching  Out  89 

examples  of  zeal  and  devotion,  and  later  the  sister  of 
the  'Svhite  ties"  has  followed  in  the  same  line  of  work. 

In  1894- 1 895  the  Davis  Hall  building  was  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety by  the  Parent  Board  for  use  as  a  Deaconess 
Home.  This  has  since  become  an  institution  potential 
for  Protestant  Christianity  in  that  important  center. 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Spence,  a  graduate  of  the  Washington 
Training-school,  w^as  Superintendent  from  1895  to 
1 90 1,  with  three  other  deaconesses  as  associates.  The 
city  is  districted,  industrial  schools  are  taught,  and 
night-schools  and  evangelistic  services  conducted. 
''Many  a  stranded  girl,  many  a  bereft  mother  and 
child,  has  found  this  Home  a  veritable  haven  of  rest." 
An  incident  of  the  year  1900  is  significant :  "Letters 
of  inquiry  came  from  England  regarding  a  poor 
English  girl  brought  to  Utah  under  false  representa- 
tion. After  diligent  search,  she  was  found,  destitute 
and  ill.  She  was  brought  to  the  Home  and  cared  for. 
By  the  aid  of  friends  and  the  assistance  of  the  British 
consul  at  San  Francisco,  passage  was  secured  for  her 
to  her  home,  and  letters  of  gratitude  were  later  re- 
ceived by  Mrs.  Spence  from  her  friends." 

A  Chinese  night-school,  taught  in  the  basement  of 
this  Home,  in  which  some  of  the  citizens  assist,  is 
an  interesting  and  promising  feature  of  this  work. 

A  beautiful  flag,  sent  from  an  Auxiliary  Society 


90  Twenty  Years'  History 

in  Oakland,  Cal.,  floats  over  this  property  in  this  city 
where  not  many  years  ago  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were 
not  allowed  to  be  displayed. 

In  1899,  through  the  efforts  of  the  Bureau  Sec- 
retary, Mrs.  B.  S.  Potter,  the  ground  on  which  Davis 
Home  stands  was  purchased  of  the  Parent  Board  for 
two  thousand  dollars,  and  the  entire  property,  worth 
eighteen  thousand  dollars,  came,  by  deed,  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society. 

Ten  stations  of  the  Society  were  reported  for  Utah 
in  1900.  In  Salt  Lake  City,  Davis  Deaconess  Home 
and  Spencer  Home,  the  latter  founded  in  1889  ^^  ^ 
memorial  to  Rev.  Henry  F.  Spencer,  of  the  Central 
New  York  Conference,  and  ''built  by  one  who  denied 
herself  that  the  work  of  winning  souls  for  Christ,  so 
dear  to  one  she  loved,  might  be  carried  on  when  he 
had  ceased  his  labors."  This  property,  devoted,  by 
the  terms  of  its  gift,  to  work  for  Scandinavian  people, 
is  not  in  use  as  a  Home,  but  the  house  is  rented,  and 
the  rent  applied  to  the  support  of  a  deaconess  who 
labors  among  those  of  that  nationality.  At  Elsinore, 
in  the  south  of  the  Territory,  a  work  has  been  main- 
tained since  1886,  when  the  "Columbus  Home"  was 
erected  by  the  ladies  of  Columbus,  O.  ''The  Phila- 
delphia Home,"  dedicated  in  1889  as  the  gift  of  the 
Philadelphia  Conference,  and  furnished  by  ladies  of 
North  Ohio  Conference,  a  property  worth  three  thou- 


Branching  Out  91 

sand  dollars,  is  located  at  Logan,  a  strong  Mormon 
center  having  a  fine  temple,  a  tabernacle,  two  colleges, 
and  a  State  agricultural  college,  all  controlled  and 
mainly  taught  by  Mormons.  "The  East  Ohio  Confer- 
ence Home,"  at  Provo,  was  also  opened  in  1889.  ]\Irs. 
Helen  Kingsbury,  the  deaconess  here  (1885-1900)  was 
reared  a  Mormon,  and,  being  the  daughter-in-law  of 
one  of  the  Presidents  of  the  Mormon  Church,  has  had 
a  closer  view  of  the  nefarious  system  than  has  fallen 
to  the  portion  of  most  teachers.  Being  thoroughly 
zealous  for  the  true  faith,  she  has  peculiar  fitness  for 
the  w^ork. 

At  j\It.  Pleasant  the  "Thomson  Home"  has  re- 
ceived through  the  years  the  gifts  of  its  patron  saint, 
Mrs.  S.  W.  Thomson,  of  Delaw^are,  O.,  and  at  Maroni 
"Gurley  Home,"  built  by  Mrs.  L.  B.  Gurley,  of  the 
same  city,  also  perpetuates  the  name  of  a  loved  one, 
while  ''Leech  Home,"  at  Spring  City,  is  a  tribute  from 
Troy  Conference,  through  ]\Irs.  William  Carpenter, 
in  honor  of  Rev.  S.  V.  Leech. 

At  Hyrum,  Richfield,  Ephraim,  Ogden,  Grants ville, 
and  Spanish  Fork  work  has  been  maintained  during 
most  of  the  period  covered  by  1890-1900,  but  little  has 
been  done  by  the  Society  in  recent  years  at  the  three 
places  last  named.  No  property  is  owned  by  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  at  these  points. 

Of  the  missionaries  and  teachers  wdio  have  served 


92  Twenty  Years'  History 

the  Society  in  this  field  through  these  twenty  years, 
some  names,  by  reason  of  capacity  and  length  of  serv- 
ice, should  be  put  upon  record.  After  Mrs.  Spurlock, 
Miss  Smith,  Mrs.  Saugstad,  and  Mrs.  Skewes,  have 
come  Miss  Julia  Iverson,  Mrs.  Jennie  Hansen  (for 
a  term  of  twelve  years),  Miss  Mary  Iverson  (later 
married  to  Rev.  E.  E.  Mork),  and  INIiss  Mary  Hegel- 
son  (afterwards  Mrs.  M.  H.  Passmore).  At  Davis 
Home  the  deaconesses  have  been  Miss  Melissa  Briggs, 
Miss  Laura  O.  Davis,  Miss  Kuhlenberg,  and  others. 
Miss  Cordelia  Robinson  succeeded  Mrs.  Spence  as 
Superintendent  in  the  fall  of  1901. 

Dr.  T.  C.  Iliff,  as  Superintendent  of  the  Utah  Mis- 
sion, proved  himself,  through  all  his  term  of  office,  a 
brother  indeed,  and  the  pastors  of  the  Churches 
throughout  the  mission  have  been  true  and  faithful 
allies. 

Dr.  J.  L.  Leilich,  of  the  Central  Pennsylvania  Con- 
ference, who  in  1900  succeeded  Dr.  Iliff  as  Superin- 
tendent of  this  mission,  has  been  no  less  friendly. 


CHAPTER  IV 

INDUSTRIAL  HOMES  OF  THE  SOCIETY  IN 
THE  SOUTH 

BUREAU  FOR  EAST  SOUTHERN  STATES 

(I^ater  Subdivided.) 

The  Bureau  for  East  Southern  States,  as  orginally 
defined,  included  work  in  Georgia  and  Florida.  ^Irs. 
J.  L.  Whetstone  was  the  Secretary  in  charge  from 
its  first  allotment  until  1897,  when  she  was  relieved 
of  a  part  of  the  work,  and  Mrs.  G.  E.  Palen,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  ''Bureau  for 
Georgia."  Mrs.  Palen  has  been  one  of  the  best  friends 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  has  known, 
and  her  generosity  and  devotion  have  been  only  equaled 
by  her  modesty  and  wisdom.  ]\Irs.  Whetstone  was 
continued  as  Secretary  for  Florida. 

THE   FIRST    ''model    home/'    THAYER    HOME,   ATLANTA, 
GEORGIA 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  first  Annual  Meeting  two 
forms  of  work  only  had  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  in  the  South. 
First,  house-to-house  visitation.  Recognizing  the  home 
as  the  unit  of  society,  the  multiplication  of  good  homes 

93 


94  Twenty  Years'  History 

was  made  the  object  of  the  missionaries'  efforts.  Into 
the  wretched  cabins  of  the  freedmen  they  went  day 
after  day,  with  their  beautiful  lessons  of  cleanliness, 
industry,  and  purity.  Secondary  to  this,  they  opened 
small  day-schools,  composed  of  the  neglected  chil- 
dren of  the  street,  and  most  frequently  conducted  in 
the  church-buildings.  The  teachers  were  often  chosen 
from  the  most  competent  of  the  colored  people  them- 
selves, the  missionary  acting  the  part  of  a  Superin- 
tendent, and  sometimes  having  as  many  as  eight  or 
ten  schools  under  her  care.  As  far  as  practicable,  sew- 
ing classes  were  introduced  into  these  schools,  and 
religious  instruction  was  always  given.  Some  bene- 
ficiaries were  also  supported  in  schools  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Aid  Society  from  funds  raised  for  that  purpose. 

But,  planning  for  the  best  and  most  permanent  re- 
sults, another  thought  took  form  and  grew,  and  in 
time  the  ''Model  Home"  was  evolved. 

The  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  in  its  system  of  edu- 
cation by  means  of  schools  and  colleges  where  young 
men  were  trained  for  the  work  of  teaching  and  preach- 
ing, "had  discovered  that  the  chasm  between  the  rude 
life  of  the  old  slave  quarters  and  the  order  and  com- 
fort of  the  college  home  must  be  bridged,  lest  the 
minister  and  the  teacher  might  return  to  the  old  im- 
provident and  disorderly  methods  of  cabin  life."  As 
young  colored  women  in  increasing  numbers  were  to 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South         95 

be  found  in  these  institutions  of  learning,  a  plan  was 
conceived  by  which  they  might  be  housed  in  separate 
buildings,  and,  under  the  care  of  godly  and  judicious 
women,  be  instructed  in  the  details  of  housekeeping 
and  in  the  moralities  and  proprieties  of  a  well-ordered 
home. 

The  name  ''Model  Home"  doubtless  originated  with 
Dr.  E.  O.  Thayer,  then  connected  with  the  Freedmen's 
Aid  school  at  Greensboro,  N.  C.  In  1879  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Zion's  Herald  pleading  for  the  establishment 
of  such  institutions  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
that  Society.  Other  articles  along  similar  lines  and 
by  the  same  writer  appeared  from  time  to  time,  notably 
in  the  issues  of  Zions  Herald,  March  14,  1883,  and 
the  New  York  Christian  Advocate  of  May  3,  1883. 
Dr.  Thayer  continued  to  agitate  the  project  in  public 
and  in  private,  and  when,  in  1881,  he  became  President 
of  Clark  University,  Atlanta,  the  plan  met  with  uni- 
versal favor  among  the  teachers  there.  He  solicited 
funds  from  friends  in  the  North,  and  proposed  to  name 
the  first  "Model  Home"  for  the  person  who  should 
be  the  donor  of  three  hundred  dollars.  Mr.  E.  O.  Fisk, 
of  Boston,  contributed  five  hundred  dollars,  and  to  him 
was  awarded  that  honor.  Two  hundred  dollars  were 
given  by  Mr.  Gayton  Ballard,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The 
lady  members  of  the  Faculty  were  greatly  interested, 
and  aided  in  the  enterprise.    Among  these.  Miss  Edith 


96  Twenty  Years'  History 

Smith  (afterward  Mrs.  Edith  Smith  Davis,  of  Apple- 
ton,  Wis.)  and  Miss  Sibyl  Abbott  were  most  active  in 
soliciting  funds  during  their  vacations  in  the  North. 

The  building  was  begun  in  1882,  a  neat  cottage 
situated  in  a  pleasant  grove  on  the  campus.  The  work 
was  done  by  the  young  men  of  the  carpentry  school 
of  the  university,  the  boys  being  paid,  in  such  cases, 
a  small  sum  per  hour  when  doing  ''outside  work." 

During  its  erection,  Mrs.  Rust  was  a  visitor  at 
Clark  University.  Recognizing  the  possibilities  and 
importance  of  the  work,  and  its  relation  to  that  of 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  she  proposed 
that  the  building  be  given  to  the  Society,  and  offered, 
in  return,  to  send  a  teacher,  or  matron,  and  provide 
for  her  support. 

At  the  first  Annual  Meeting,  1882,  business  was 
suspended  to  hear  an  appeal  for  this  enterprise,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  letter  of  greeting  was  read  from 
Miss  Jane  Bancroft,  then  Dean  of  the  Woman's  Col- 
lege, Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  111.,  in  which 
she  offered  "to  be  one  of  forty  to  give  five  dollars 
each"  to  finish  and  furnish  the  cottage  at  Clark  Uni- 
versity, and  proposing  the  name  ''Model  Home."  Six- 
teen persons  responded,  and  eighty  dollars  were 
pledged  on  the  spot.  The  building  was  ready  for  oc- 
cupancy in  the  fall  of  1883,  ^^^^^  Miss  Edith  Smith  at- 
tended the   second  Annual   Meeting  at   Cincinnati  in 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South         97 

November  of  that  year,  and  formally  presented  the 
''Fisk  Cottage"  to  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety. The  gift  was  accepted,  and  ^liss  Flora  ]\litchell. 
of  Boston,  was  sent  as  the  first  Superintendent.  De- 
cember 18,  1883,  the  Home  was  formally  dedicated, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Rnst  and  Bishop  Warren  being  present 
on  that  occasion. 

This  cottage  was  the  first  property  owned  by  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  It  was  used  for 
four  years,  when  the  work  became  too  large  for  its 
narrow  bounds,  and  it  was  thought  best  to  vacate  the 
premises,  because  the  new  building  of  the  Boys'  In- 
dustrial Department  had  been  located  quite  near  it. 
The  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  paid  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  cot- 
tage, and  the  latter  proceeded  to  plan  for  a  larger  and 
more  convenient  building. 

Ground  was  secured  on  another  part  of  the  campus, 
two  hundred  by  three  hundred  feet,  by  a  perpetual 
lease  from  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  at  a  nominal 
rental  of  one  dollar,  and  the  contract  was  let  in  August, 
1887,  fo^  ^  building  to  cost  four  thousand  dollars. 
The  work,  though  delayed,  was  completed,  and  the 
new  "Home"  first  occupied  in  February,  1889.  It  was 
formally  dedicated  during  Commencement  week.  May, 
1889,  and  named  "Thayer  Home,"  in  honor  of  Dr. 
E.  O.  Thayer,  who  had  been  so  largely  instrumental 
8 


98  Twenty  Years'  History 

in  the  erection  of  '*Fisk  Cottage,"  and  whose  abiding 
interest  in  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society  was  for  so  many  years  a  constant  encourage- 
ment to  the  workers. 

The  cost  of  the  finished  building,  inchiding  heat- 
ing plant,  was  about  six  thousand  dollars.  Of  this 
amount,  New  England  Conference,  "the  home  of  the 
Thayers,"  contributed  twenty-five  hundred,  and  Rock 
River  Conference  twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  five 
hundred  dollars  of  the  latter  being  the  gift  of  that 
generous  donor,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Gammon,  of  Batavia,  111. 
Six  hundred  dollars  came  from  Maiden,  Mass.,  largely 
through  the  influence  of  the  beloved  Miss  Hannah  B. 
Haven,  sister  of  Bishop  Haven. 

In  1899  the  Home  was  enlarged  at  an  expense,  in- 
cluding furnishings,  of  eighteen  hundred  dollars,  in 
order  to  provide  better  facilities  for  the  Sewing  De- 
partment, and  in  the  following  year  that  elect  lady, 
Mrs.  G.  E.  Palen,  of  Philadelphia,  gave  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  as  a  twentieth-century  thank-offering, 
to  make  other  much-needed  improvements. 

In  the  year  1900  the  regular  inmates  of  the  Home 
numbered  twenty-eight ;  in  grade  cooking  classes  (girls 
from  the  university),  fifty-two;  in  sewing,  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-eight ;  and  in  dressmaking,  twenty- 
one.     The  income  from  board  of  pupils  and  teachers 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South         99 

was  eight  hundred  and  thirty  four  dollars ;  from  grade 
classes,  dressmaking,  donations,  etc.,  eleven  hundred 
and  twenty-three  dollars ;  and  the  expenses  were  two 
thousand  and  twenty-seven  dollars. 

To  Miss  Flora  Mitchell,  for  eighteen  years  Super- 
intendent of  the  Home  at  Atlanta,  too  high  praise  can 
not  be  given.  She  has  been  careful  in  finance,  and 
persevering  in  soliciting  and  securing  aid  for  her 
work,  so  that  it  has  been,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
self-supporting.  She  has  been  a  mother  to  the  girls 
under  her  care,  and,  so  closely  has  she  kept  in  touch 
with  them  after  they  have  left  the  home,  that  she 
has  been  able  to  say,  from  subsequent  personal  knowl- 
edge, "Of  the  hundreds  of  girls  who  have  passed 
through  the  discipline  and  training  of  Thayer  Home, 
only  a  few  have  gone  astray."  They  have  become 
teachers  of  their  own  race,  wives  of  those  young 
men,  ministers  and  others,  who  have  enjoyed  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  University,  and  almost,  without  ex- 
ception, factors  of  power  in  the  social,  intellectual,  and 
religious  uphft  of  their  people. 

And  as  a  testimony  to  the  value  of  the  hygienic 
teaching  received,  it  is  a  known  fact  that  "every  girl 
who  has  been  in  Thayer  Home  for  one  continuous  year 
is  living  to-day.  Among  a  people  so  subject  to  con- 
sumption and  early  death,  this  counts  for  much." 


loo  Twenty  Years'  History 

This  phase  of  the  work,  the  model  Home,  though 
not  without  opposition  in  its  beginning,  met  with 
general  approbation.  Dr.  A.  G.  Haygood,  of  the 
Church,  South,  afterwards  Bishop  Haygood,  said  of 
it,  "The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  has 
solved  the  problem — what  to  do  with  the  colored  girl." 

And  the  national  commissioner  of  education  at 
that  time  wrote,  *'You  have  struck  the  keynote  for  the 
uplifting  of  the  Negro  race." 

And  another  said,  ''It  is  patent  to  all  that  the  wives 
and  mothers  must  be  reached  and  trained  and  elevated, 
if  the  work  done  among  the  men  is  to  be  enduring." 

Of  the  spiritual  results  it  may  be  said,  ''Only  a 
very  small  per  cent  of  the  girls  who  have  been  for  a 
considerable  length  of  time  in  these  Homes  have  re- 
mained unconverted." 

The  original  plan  of  the  model  Home,  presumably 
a  family  of  ten  or  twelve  in  number,  became,  in  time, 
somewhat  modified,  and  the  idea  of  the  Industrial 
Home  was  made  paramount.  Being  associated  with 
the  Church  schools,  it  was  found  desirable  to  provide 
industrial  training  for  much  larger  numbers,  and 
buildings  to  accommodate  from  thirty  to  eighty  became 
an  economic  necessity. 

HAVEN   HOME,   SAVANNAH,   GEORGIA 

In  January,  1882,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Bristol  and  Mrs. 
S.   M.  Lewis   were   sent  to   Savannah,   Ga.,   to  open 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        loi 

work  under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  The  Httle  Church,  iVsbury  Chapel, 
built  for  the  colored  people  through  the  efforts  of 
Bishop  Gilbert  Haven,  was  made  the  center  around 
which  the  work  was  gathered.  They  found  the  build- 
ing dilapidated  and  in  great  disorder;  divine  serv- 
ices had  been  only  irregularly  observed  and  thinly 
attended,  and  a  session  of  the  Sabbath-school  had  not 
been  held  in  it  for  a  year.  The  Freedmen's  Aid  So- 
ciety had  no  school  in  this  city,  and  the  State  had 
not  yet  realized  its  duty  to  provide  adequate  edu- 
cational facilities  for  colored  children.  The  new 
workers  had  come  to  do  ''missionary  work,"  but,  find- 
ing themselves  surrounded  by  swarms  of  the  ignorant, 
uncouth  children  of  illiterate  parents,  with  no  hope 
of  betterment  from  their  homes,  or  help  from  the 
resident  community,  the  obvious  need  seemed  to  be 
the  establishment  of  a  day-school.  For  this  purpose 
the  church  was  put  in  order,  and  used  for  three  hours 
of  each  da}-,  the  remainder  of  the  time  being  de- 
voted to  house  to  house  visitation.  The  small  par- 
sonage was  found  to  be  resting  under  the  ban  of 
a  mortgage,  with  foreclosure  threatened.  Airs.  J.  L. 
Whetstone,  Secretary  of  the  Bureau,  rented  the  house 
as  a  home  for  the  missionaries,  and,  securing  that  the 
rent  be  applied  on  the  mortgage,  thus  saved  it  to 
the  Church.  Here  mothers'  meetings,  temperance 
meetings,   and   industrial   classes   were   held,    regular 


I02  Twenty  Years'  History 

services  were  instituted  in  the  Church,  and  the  good 
missionaries  soon  became  known  among  the  colored 
people  as  veritable  sisters  of  mercy. 

Mrs.  Lewis  taught  the  younger  children  in  the 
kitchen,  and  it  was  so  full  that  the  little  tots  were 
crowded  in  everywhere,  under  the  table,  behind  the 
stove,  and  everywhere  they  could  get. 

In  November,  Miss  Viola  Baldwin  was  sent  to 
their  assistance,  and  Mrs.  Lewis  and  Miss  Baldwin, 
both  invaluable  workers,  have  continued  to  be  iden- 
tified with  this  Savannah  work  through  the  twenty 
years  of  its  subsequent  history. 

How  they  longed,  as  the  days  went  by,  for  a 
building  in  which  to  develop  the  "Industrial  Home" 
as  it  was  being  exemplified  at  Atlanta !  The  watch- 
ful eye  of  the  Secretary,  Mrs.  Whetstone,  discov- 
ered the  God-given  opportunity.  A  large  and  val- 
uable building  in  a  desirable  location  was  offered  at 
a  sacrifice,  an  appropriation  for  the  purchase  was  asked 
in  1884,  Mrs.  Whetstone  pledging  the  first  thousand 
dollars,  and  the  property  was  secured.  The  original 
cost  of  the  building  was  seven  thousand  dollars.  Put 
in  good  repair,  and  with  neat  furnishings,  this  Home 
was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1885,  with  three  teachers  and 
ninety  pupils.  It  was  named  "Haven  Home"  at  Mrs. 
Whetstone's  request,  though  there  are  those  who 
still  believe  it  should  have  borne  her  name,  as  she  gave 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       103 

towards  it  the  largest  contribution,  and  untold  thought 
and  labor. 

From  this  time  on  it  has  been  a  beacon  light 
amid  the  darkness  of  the  Negro  population  of  Sa- 
vannah. Fire  and  earthquake,  storm  and  cyclone  have 
been  as  the  emissaries  of  Satan  to  destroy  it,  but  still 
it  stands  as  a  monument  of  God's  purpose  to  redeem 
the  degraded. 

Five  hundred  girls  have  been  inmates  of  this 
Home  since  it  was  opened,  and  over  four  thousand 
have  been  pupils  in  the  day-school.  Who  can  estimate 
the  wide  sweep  of  influence  thus  set  in  motion?  It 
has  been  truly  a  training-school  for  Christian  workers, 
the  older  girls  being  most  efficient  assistants  to  the 
missionaries,  not  only  in  industrial  and  school  work, 
but  in  soul-saving.  One  of  the  missionary  ladies  has 
always  remained  in  charge  during  the  summer  vaca- 
tion that  "the  family"  may  be  held  together. 

In  1892,  Miss  A.  E.  Philo,  of  Watertown,  N.  Y., 
was  sent  to  Haven  Home  as  teacher  and  missionary, 
and  for  seven  years  labored  faithfully,  greatly  endear- 
ing herself  to  all.  In  March,  1899,  she  went  from 
labor  to  reward.  Miss  Delma  Lamb,  of  Rockland, 
Pa.,  succeeded  her. 

The  Speedwell  Mission  (so  named  for  Mrs.  Joshua 
Speed,  of  Louisville,  Ky.),  at  Sandfly,  or  Isle  of  Hope, 
a  point  six  miles  out  from  Savannah,  has  been  an  ex- 


I04  Twenty  Years'  History 

ample  of  the  self-denying  labors  of  these  missionaries. 
A  little  church  was  built  in  the  pine  woods,  and  relig- 
ious services  and  industrial  classes  were  maintained 
with  constantly  encouraging  results  from  1886  till  1893, 
without  a  dollar  from  the  treasury.  Then  through 
the  energy  and  liberality  of  Mrs.  Palen,  a  small  home, 
with  one  worker  in  charge,  was  established.  It  has 
room  for  six  girls,  and  has  been  named  the  ''Mary 
Haven  Home,"  for  the  wife  of  Bishop  Haven.  This, 
with  the  day-school  in  the  chapel,  continues  to  do 
good  work  "in  a  community  that  but  for  it  would  be 
destitute  of  every  ennobling  influence,"  there  being 
about  fifty  pupils  there  for  whom  no  other  oppor- 
tunity of  education  has  been  provided. 

The  fruits  of  the  school  are  being  manifest.  In 
1900  the  first  of  the  older  girls  went  to  Thayer  Home, 
and,  says  Mrs.  Palen :  "When  I  saw  her  there,  so 
quiet,  obedient  and  attentive  to  every  duty,  I  felt 
Miss  Herron  had  just  reason  to  rejoice  in  her  work, 
for  she  had  taught  her  the  most  that  she  knew. 
Those  who  have  the  first  year  with  these  girls  make 
an  impression  on  their  character  that  never  will  be 
effaced.  The  gentle  nature  of  their  teacher  is  surely 
reproduced  in  the  girls  of  the  Speedwell  Mission." 

Miss  Baldwin  inaugurated  that  work  at  Speed- 
well, and  carried  it  until  the  little  house  was  built 
and  Miss  Delia  Herron  placed  in  charge,  after  which 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       105 

she  went  into  the  "Frogtovvn"  skims  of  the  city, 
and,  aided  by  four  of  the  older  girls  from  Haven  Home, 
started  there  the  Palen  Mission. 

BOYLAiX  home:,  JACKSONVILLE,  FLA. 

The  work  at  Jacksonville  has  been  from  the  first 
under  the  supervision  of  the  same  Secretary,  Mrs. 
J.  L.  Whetstone.  Spending  most  of  her  winters  in 
the  South,  she  observed  existing  conditions,  and  was 
moved  with  pity  for  the  colored  women  and  chil- 
dren. In  1885,  Miss  Hattie  E.  Emerson  was  ap- 
pointed, with  headquarters  at  Cookman  Institute 
(Freedmen's  Aid  school).  "This  pioneer  work,"  says 
Miss  Emerson,  'Svas  not  play ;  sewing  bands  were  or- 
ganized among  the  children  in  the  difiterent  parts  of 
the  city,  and,  in  the  six  classes  formed,  the  first  year 
three  hundred  children  were  enrolled."  Then  Miss 
Emerson's  mother,  of  blessed  memory,  was  sent  to  be 
her  companion  and  house  mother.  "They  lived  for 
a  time,"  says  Mrs.  Whetstone,  "in  two  rooms,  and 
did  missionary  work  in  various  ways  as  best  they 
could"  until,  in  1886,  Mrs.  Whetstone  bought  the  neat, 
six-room  cottage,  in  which  they  then  were  installed. 
She  advanced  the  money  for  the  purchase  and  the 
furnishing,  and  then  appealed  for  aid  to  ]\Irs.  Ann 
Boylan  DeGroot,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  "to  whom,"  she 
says,  "I  went  again  and  again,  and  never  in  vain." 


io6  Twenty  Years'  History 

Two  thousand  dollars  were  soon  after  paid  upon 
the  property  by  Mrs.  DeGroot,  thus  giving  her  the 
right  to  name  the  Home,  which  she  did,  calling  it 
"Boylan  Home."  During  the  dark  days  of  slavery  two 
large  plantations  had  borne  this,  her  family  nam.e, 
and  she  wished  to  see  it  associated  with  the  uplifting 
of  the  race  so  long  degraded.  She  continued,  through 
the  years,  her  loving  benefactions,  until,  with  the 
various  enlargements  and  improvements,  her  gifts 
amounted  in  the  aggregate  to  over  eleven  thousand 
dollars.  Well  has  she  been  called  "Boylan's  patron 
saint."  In  1901,  she  went  away  to  be  with  God,  "I 
believe,"  said  one  of  the  Boylan  Home  workers,  ''the 
joy  of  heaven  will  be  sweeter  to  her,  because  she 
will  greet  a  happy  throng  who  have  sought  and 
found  Jesus  in  this  Home." 

Miss  Emerson's  reminiscences  of  the  early  history 
of  this  work  are  worth  recording.     She  says : 

''There  were  many  obstacles  in  the  way, — the  apathy 
and  indifference  born  of  ignorance  on  missionary 
lines;  the  prevailing  idea  that  idleness  meant  re- 
spectability and  which  made  mothers  anxious  to  have 
their  children  study  books,  but  unwilling  to  have 
them  learn  to  work,  and  the  unrelenting  prejudice  of 
color  caste.  Then  came  the  first  little  family  of  seven 
girls,  during  the  hot  summer  months.  How  some  of 
those  girls  struggled  over  the  evening  Bible  verses, 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       107 

and  the  daily  problem  of  order  and  cleanliness !  One 
of  them  is  a  matron  now,  living  not  far  away  in  a 
neat  little  home.  'That  Home  was  all  the  mother  I 
ever  had,'  she  said,  not  long  ago. 

**The  earthquake  frightened  the  'sinner  girls'  so 
badly  that  some  wanted  revival  meetings  right  away. 
We  began  the  Friday  afternoon  prayer-meetings  that 
year,  and  have  held  them  ever  since.  October,  1887, 
the  house  was  enlarged  to  accommodate  twenty-four 
girls,  and  a  teacher,  I\Iiss  Baker,  of  Joliet,  111.,  was 
sent  to  help  carry  on  the  work.  When  it  was  time 
for  the  house  to  open,  in  October,  we  had  no  furni- 
ture for  the  added  rooms.  ]\Irs.  Dr.  Carey,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, sent  us  a  set  for  one  room,  which  is  still  in 
use.  Bands  and  Auxiliaries  came  to  our  relief;  one 
suite  of  furniture  came  from  New  Hampshire ;  and 
Miss  Van  Marter  secured  the  donation  of  an  organ 
and  seventy-five  folding-chairs,  that  have  been  of  un- 
told value  to  us,  and  are  still  doing  good  service. 
Then  came  the  year  of  yellow  fever,  1888 — a  long,  sad 
experience.  Mother  and  a  little  band  of  six  girls 
were  here  all  those  months,  and  kept  in  perfect  health. 

''Our  neighbor,  who  had  built  a  fence  twenty 
feet  high  and  a  hundred  feet  long  on  the  dividing 
line  of  property,  'to  keep  out  the  sight  of  niggers 
with  books,'  was  one  of  the  first  victims  of  the  fever, 
but  no  breath  of  the  pestilence  swept  over  the  frown- 
ing wall.  School  opened  three  months  late  that 
year,  and  Miss  Morehouse  came  as  teacher.  Ten 
girls  asked  to  come  as  day  scholars,  and  the  sitting- 
room,  used  for  school,  was  quite  filled.     In  the  open- 


io8  Twenty  Years'  History 

ing  summer-time,  May,  1889,  mother's  busy  hands 
were  folded,  and  she  went  home.  We  laid  her  to 
rest  beside  my  father,  under  the  cedars  at  Fernan- 
dina.  More  room  was  needed,  and  another  lot,  with 
a  small  cottage^  was  bought,  and  the  older  girls 
were  made  the  cottage  family.  A  schoolroom  was 
the  next  great  need,  and  personal  gifts  from  many 
friends  provided  this  room  as  a  memorial  offering. 
Then  we  worked  for  a  laundry ;  gave  a  concert,  the 
''Flag  Festival,"  and  an  apron  sale,  and  finally  se- 
cured it.  Year  by  year  the  work  grew,  another 
teacher  came,  and  our  first  class  graduated  in  1891. 
They  were  five  good  girls,  and  are  doing  well  to- 
day. Two  are  teaching,  one  is  well  married,  and 
two  earn  a  comfortable  living  at  dressmaking. 

"At  last  the  number  reached  one  hundred  and 
fifty  in  the  day-school,  and  thirty  in  the  family,  and 
four  teachers  were  assigned  to  the  work.  Other  lines 
of  work  were  forced  upon  us  by  the  steady,  persistent 
needs  around  us.  Something  more  than  clothing 
was  needed  for  the  poorly  clad.  They  needed  to  be 
taught  to  sew  and  make  clothing.  Many  of  the 
hard  working  mothers  could  not  make  their  chil- 
dren's clothes,  and  had  not  the  time  even  when  they 
knew  how. 

''The  sewing  bands  were  started,  and  soon  en- 
rolled over  one  hundred  boys  and  girls,  who  lived 
in  the  town  and  suburbs,  and  came  every  Friday 
for  a  sewing  lesson,  followed  by  a  service  of  Bible 
study,  singing  and  prayer.  Some  of  these  children 
walked  four  and  five  miles  to  attend  the  meetings, 
week  in  and  week  out." 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        109 

A  Boylan  Home  "primary  class"  is  thus  described : 

''Five  years  and  fifty-five  are  the  ages  represented. 
Mrs.  B.  has  'raised  a  family,'  and  never  had  an  op- 
portunity of  learning  to  read.  Now  her  husband 
says,  'You  go  to  school  and  learn  to  read  if  you  want 
to.'  She  has  learned  to  read  quite  well  from  the 
Gospel  of  John,  but  writing  'bothers  her  mightily.'  " 

The  property  now  extends  the  entire  length  of 
the  block,  three  hundred  feet  on  Duvall  Street,  by 
ninety-five  feet,  and  contains  three  buildings,  Boylan 
Home  and  Whetstone  Cottage,  which  are  connected, 
and  contain  dormitory-rooms  for  thirty-six  girls  and 
six  teachers,  with  sitting-room,  dining-room,  kitchen, 
and  workroom.  The  chapel  building  accommodates  a 
school  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five. 

May  3,  1901,  Boylan  Home  was  saved,  as  by  a 
miracle,  from  the  flames  which  desolated  Jacksonville. 
For  many  weeks  it  was  a  relief  station  to  hundreds 
of  homeless  suffering  ones. 

The  missionaries  at  Boylan  Home  have  been 
greatly  helpful  to  the  Churches  of  the  colored  people 
in  the  vicinity.  Without  this  aid  the  Churches  could 
scarcely  be  maintained,  and  their  personal  influence 
in  keeping  up  a  high  standard  of  moralit}'  has  been 
incalculable.  Miss  Hattie  E.  Morehouse,  for  twelve 
years  Miss  Emerson's  first  assistant,  has  been,  indeed, 
a  model  missionary. 

"Faith    Cottage,"    a   fine    example    of    "settlement 


no  Twenty  Years'  History 

work,"  has  been  conducted  about  one  mile  from 
Boy  Ian  Home  by  Miss  Ada  R.  Ingraham.  Her  serv- 
ices have  been  given  gratuitously,  and  the  current  ex- 
penses derived  from  voluntary  gifts. 

An  important  movement  made  in  1901,  in  connec- 
tion with  Boylan  Home,  was  the  inauguration  of  the 
"Brewster  Memorial  Training-school  for  Nurses," 
which  had  been  made  possible  through  the  gift  of  two 
thousand  dollars  by  Mrs.  Matilda  A.  Brewster,  of 
Danielson,  Conn.,  in  memory  of  her  husband,  the  Rev. 
G.  W.  Brewster.  The  building,  which  was  purchased 
and  occupied  for  this  purpose,  was  the  identical  prop- 
erty which  was  fenced  ofif  by  the  owner  in  1888  to 
''keep  out  the  sight  of  niggers  with  books." 

Miss  lona  Benson  opened  the  Nurse-training  De- 
partment in  the  fall  of  1901,  with  seven  girls  as  stu- 
dents. 

EIMERSON  HOME,  OCALA,  FLA. 

The  good  influence  of  Boylan  Home  was  recognized 
in  other  quarters  of  the  State,  and  from  various 
points,  from  time  to  time,  there  came  urgent  requests 
for  the  establishment  of  similar  institutions  else- 
where. This  led  to  the  founding  of  Emerson  Me- 
morial Home  at  Ocala,  Fla. 

The  area  of  Florida  makes  a  trip  from  its  north- 
ern to  its  southern  limit  an  expensive  affair,   and   a 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        1 1 1 

school  more  centrally  located  was  greatly  desired 
by  the  colored  people  living-  in  Southern  and  Middle 
Florida.  In  1890,  some  active  steps  were  taken  by 
Airs.  Whetstone  and  Boylan  Home  workers  to  es- 
tablish a  school  in  Alarion  County,  a  hundred  miles 
south  of  Jacksonville.  A  small  house  was  rented  in 
Belleview,  and  two  Vermont  ladies,  Miss  Ida  L.  Gil- 
man  and  Mrs.  English,  with  a  family  of  ten  girls, 
began  the  work,  which  has  grown  into  Emerson 
Home.  The  first  location  w^as  not  quite  satisfactory, 
and  the  next  year  it  was  decided  to  move  to  Ocala, 
twelve  miles  distant,  and  a  more  central  point,  as  to 
railroad  lines,  and  with  a  larger  colored  population  to 
draw  from.  Mrs.  Ann  Boylan  DeGroot  generously 
gave  the  first  thousand  dollars  toward  this  Home,  and 
named  it  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Cecilia  Emerson,  who 
died  at  Boylan  Home,  May,  1889,  and  Mrs.  Whet- 
stone, with  the  co-operation  of  her  good  husband,  gave 
both  money  and  time  to  the  careful  planning  of  this 
work.  Aliss  Cozy  Miller,  of  DuBois,  Pa.,  assisted  bv 
Miss  Lena  Jacobs,  a  Boylan  Home  graduate,  opened 
this  school  and  Home  in  a  dilapidated  and  abandoned 
church  building,  "which  was  curtained  ofif  by  sheets, 
dividing  it  into  bedrooms,  schoolroom,  and  kitchen." 
They  enrolled  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  pupils,  and 
had  six  girls  in  the  family.  The  next  year,  1892, 
the   Home    was    built,    a   neat   commodious    buildincf. 


112  Twenty  Years'  History 

where  Miss  C.  A.  Buckbee  and  her  teachers  have  done 
excellent  work.  Miss  L.  B.  Welch  was  a  valuable 
assistant  from  1894  to  1900. 

It  was  an  Emerson  Home  girl  who  said,  ''I  'm  go- 
ing home  to  work  in  the  field  to  earn  money  to  come 
next  term,  but  I  Ve  got  a  star  in  my  heart  now."  This 
work  is  in  a  farming  community,  where  money  is 
scarce,  and  privileges  for  colored  young  people  are 
few.  The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  has 
invested  well  in  planting  this  Home,  which  is  a  light 
shining  in  a  dark  place,  and  many  illumined  lives  may 
be  counted  in  its  results. 

In  studying  the  history  of  these  Homes,  we  note, 
with  satisfaction,  the  indications  everywhere  apparent 
of  a  steadfast  purpose,  on  the  part  of  superintendents 
and  teachers,  to  induce  the  pupils  and  beneficiaries 
to  make  strenuous  efforts  for  self-help.  The  amount 
of  money  thus  brought  into  these  Homes  and  schools 
year  by  year  by  these  poverty-stricken  girls  as  an 
offset  to  the  inevitable  expense  account,  suggests 
volumes  of  pathos  and  privation.  Thus,  heroic  pur- 
poses are  being  aroused  in  the  recipients,  and  char- 
acter-building is  going  on  for  eternity. 

A  not  less  remarkable  feature  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  work  is  discovered  in  the  strict  economy  and 
frugality  practiced  in  the  routine  management  of  the 


PRESENT    OFFICERS. 

Mrs.    Delia  Latiirup  Williams. 
Mrs.    1".   A.   Airkx.  Mrs.   Georcf.  II.   Thomtson. 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        113 

Homes,  such  economy  as  verges  close  upon  hard- 
ship and  suffering.  Indeed,  these  two  factors,  self- 
help,  on  the  part  of  beneficiaries,  and  self-denial,  on 
the  part  of  the  missionaries,  can  alone  account  for 
the  phenomenal  enlargement  of  the  work.  Surely 
God's  angels  are  keeping  record  of  the  sacrifices  of 
his  saints,  and,  over  there,  those  w^io  were  ahungered 
here,  shall  be  compensated  with  the  sweetest  of  the 
heavenly  manna. 

BUREAU  FOR  MIDDLE  SOUTHERN  STATES 

(I^ater  Subdivided.) 

All  the  territory  included  in  the  northern  belt  of 
the  Southern  States,  and  reaching  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Mississippi,  was  set  apart  in  1885,,  and  put 
under  the  care  of  the  "Bureau  for  Aliddle  Southern 
States,"  and  to  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt  was  given  the  re- 
sponsible office  of  Bureau  Secretary.  This  she  carried 
with  great  ability,  visiting  and  inspecting  the  Homes, 
by  authority  of  the  Board,  in  the  summer  of  1887. 
After  three  years  she  resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Mrs.  William  Runyan,  of  Hillsboro,  O.  Mrs.  Run- 
yan's  name  belongs  among  the  early  supporters  of  the 
Society,  as  she  came  into  vital  connection  with  its 
work  during  the  first  year  of  its  existence. 


114  Twenty  Years'  History 

By  a  later  subdivision,  two  Bureaus  were  formed 
from  the  Middle  Southern  Bureau,  viz.,  "East  Central 
States,"  and  ''West  Central  States."  Of  the  former, 
Mrs.  J.  E.  Gilbert,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  was  the 
first  Secretary.  She  has  filled  many  positions  of  trust 
in  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  al- 
ways with  marked  success.  In  1894,  ]\Irs.  E.  L.  Al- 
bright, of  Delaware,  O.,  succeeded  to  the  care  of  this 
Bureau.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  Mrs.  Albright  has  dis- 
played remarkable  capacity  for  ''bringing  things  to 
pass."  Nothing  that  she  has  touched  in  the  way  of 
practical  efifort  for  the  Society  has  proved  a  failure. 
She  has  only  been  removed  from  one  post  of  responsi- 
bility to  fill  another  demanding  more  of  executive 
energy. 

In  the  "West  Central  Bureau"  Mrs.  Mary  Fisk 
Park  has  been,  since  1893,  the  careful  guardian  of  its 
interests.  Her  name  with  that  of  her  mother,  Mrs. 
Fisk,  and  their  associate  Mrs.  Kent,  has  been  a  talis- 
man of  power  in  the  Homes  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  at  Greensboro  and  Morristown. 

SIMPSON   MEMORIAL  HOME;,  ORANGEBURG,   S.  C. 

Soon  after  the  "Fisk  Cottage"  was  opened  at  At- 
lanta, a  movement  was  inaugurated  at  Orangeburg, 
S.  C,  the  seat  of  Claflin  University  (Freedmen's  Aid 
school)  having  a  similar  end  in  view.     ]\Irs.  Dunton, 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       115 

who  had  given  a  large  part  of  her  time  for  four  years 
or  more,  first  to  a  personal  visitation  of  the  colored 
people  in  their  homes  on  the  Greenville  District,  and 
later  to  a  canvass  of  the  Conferences  in  the  North,  in 
which  she  solicited  financial  aid  for  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  was  immediately  impressed  with 
the  plan  of  the  ''Model  Home"  as  put  into  practice  at 
Atlanta.  Dr.  Dunton,  President  of  the  university,  and 
other  members  of  the  Faculty  coincided,  and,  to  make 
the  experiment,  the  use  of  one  of  the  small  buildings 
on  the  campus,  "Fenn  Cottage."  was  oitered  to  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  at  a  nominal  rental 
of  one  dollar  per  year.  So  interested  were  they  that 
Mrs.  Dunton  gave  of  her  own  household  furnishings 
to  hasten  the  opening,  which  occurred  November  12, 

1883. 

Miss  Ella  J.  Belts  was  put  in  charge  with  twelve 
girls  in  the  Home. 

It  succeeded  so  well  that  a  plea  was  sent  up  to  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  1884  asking  for  larger  and  better 
accommodations.  In  response,  the  ladies  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Conference,  headed  by  that  noble  leader,  Mrs. 
R.  W.  P.  Goff,  pledged  one  thousand  dollars  for  a 
new  building  to  be  named  "Simpson  Home"  in  honor 
of  the  beloved  Bishop  Matthew  Simpson,  but  recently 
deceased.  In  the  following  year,  ]\rrs.  Dunton  visited 
Philadelphia  and  spoke  in  many  of  the  churches  of 


ii6  Twenty  Years'  History 

that  Conference,  soliciting  contributions  and  securing 
pledges. 

The  house  was  built  by  the  boys  of  the  School  of 
Carpentry,  Dr.  Dunton  himself  supervising  its  erection, 
and  ''working  on  it  many  days  with  his  own  hands," 
thus  saving  some  hundreds  of  dollars  to  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society.  It  had  dormitory  room 
for  nineteen  girls,  and  was  opened  in  1886  with  Miss 
Purdam  in  charge.  She  remained  two  years,  until  her 
marriage  with  Professor  Webster. 

In  October,  1889,  Miss  Eva  Penfield  became  Super- 
intendent, and  continued  successfully  at  this  responsible 
post  until  October,  1901,  when  she  resigned  to  accept 
the  position  of  Preceptress  in  the  university.  Miss 
Mary  Tripp,  Miss  Elizabeth  Swager,  and  Miss  V. 
Ferrabee  were,  in  succession,  her  assistants. 

The  most  cordial  and  helpful  relations  have  been 
maintained  between  this  Home  and  Claflin  University. 
The  young  women  of  the  senior  class  have  spent  their 
last  year  in  Simpson  Home  taking  its  training  and 
doing  the  housework,  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  uni- 
versity curriculum  being  that  no  girl  should  be  grad- 
uated without  having  had  at  least  one  year  in  the 
Home. 

Pupils  in  the  school  attended  classes  in  plain  sewing 
and  dressmaking  in  the  Plome.  Many  of  these  classes, 
for  want  of  room,  met  in  the  university  buildings,  and 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       117 

teachers  in  the  latter  assisted  in  the  oversight  of  the 
work  of  these  classes.  Dr.  Dunton's  co-operation  has 
been  invaluable  in  advancing  the  interests  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society. 

''Almost  v^ithout  exception,"  says  Miss  Penfield, 
"our  girls  have  gone  out  from  us  as  earnest  workers 
for  Christ.  Most  of  them  have  become  teachers ;  some 
have  married;  but  the  majority  of  them  are  teaching 
in  the  best  colored  schools  of  the  State." 

In  1895,  Simpson  Home  was  enlarged,  and  in  1898 
its  available  room  was  further  increased  by  finishing 
the  attic.  It  then  accommodated  twenty-seven  girls, 
and  was  always  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity.  In  1899 
the  erection  of  a  new  ''Industrial  Hall"  was  begun,  the 
ladies  of  Binghampton,  N.  Y.,  leading  off  with  a  gift 
of  three  hundred  dollars. 

About  this  time  a  change  of  base  was  determined 
upon  which  was  believed  to  be  an  advance  movement. 
Claflin  University  has  more  than  one  thousand  students 
and  numerous  dormitories  and  buildings,  and  the  most 
extensive  Manual-training  Department  of  any  of  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  schools.  The  general  scope  of  the 
school  and  the  special  work  for  boys  has  attained  such 
proportions  that  the  "Model  Home,"  as  a  provision 
for  industrial  training  for  girls,  was  no  longer  con- 
sidered adequate. 

It  was  then  proposed  to  abandon  the  Boarding  De- 


ii8  Twenty  Years'  History 

partment  for  girls  in  the  Home,  to  take  out  the  par- 
titions in  order  to  provide  enlarged  space  for  sewing- 
classes,  to  finish  the  new  ''Hall,"  and  to  furnish  all 
with  the  necessary  equipment  for  industrial  training 
along  advanced  lines.  Under  Mrs.  Albright's  efficient 
management  this  has  been  accomplished,  and  three 
hundred  girls  of  the  university  classes  may  receive,  in 
this  way,  the  best  of  instruction  in  scientific  cooking, 
dressmaking,  draughting  of  garments,  millinery,  and 
manual-training.  No  beneficiary  money  will  be  asked 
for,  except  five  dollars  per  pupil,  to  cover  expenses  of 
materials  used. 

The  Managers  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  schools  look 
upon  this  movement  with  unqualified  approval.  At 
the  larger  centers  of  learning  elsewhere  among  the 
colored  people  this  new  departure  may  possibly  be  re- 
peated by  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  with 
profit.  It  marks  an  era  of  more  hopeful  social  con- 
ditions. The  work  of  twenty  years  has  not  been  in 
vain. 

BROWNING    HOME    AND     MATPIER    ACADEMY,     CAMDEN, 
SOUTH    CAROLINA 

Beautifully  and  healthfully  located  among  the  pines 
of  the  foothills  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  in  South 
Carolina,    at    Camden,    is    the    ''Browning    Industrial 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        119 

Home/'  with  the  "Txiather  Academy"  and  'Xucy  Bab 
cock  Chapel." 

Camden  is  an  old,  conservative  Southern  town,  and 
noted  for  its  historic  associations.  An  important  revo- 
lutionary battle  was  fought  near  here,  and  a  monument 
to  Baron  de  Kalb,  wdio  fell  in  the  engagement,  adorns 
the  "Square."  Sherman's  army  passed  near  by  in  its 
famous  "march  to  the  sea." 

Here,  after  the  emancipation  of  the  Negroes  and 
before  her  marriage,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Mather  purchased 
property  and  opened  a  school  for  colored  children,  her- 
self teaching  and  carrying  all  the  expenses.  After  her 
marriage  to  Rev.  James  Mather,  of  the  New  England 
Southern  Conference,  she  interested  ladies  of  that  Con- 
ference in  the  work  she  had  been  doing,  and  unitedly 
they  undertook,  in  1884,  the  erection  of  an  "Industrial 
Home"  at  Camden.  It  w^as  their  purpose  to  secure 
the  money  needed  for  this  object  before  proceeding 
to  build. 

In  1887,  October  loth,  the  Home  was  opened  in 
a  rented  house  with  an  enrollment  of  twenty-six,  and 
the  new  Home  w^as  ready  for  occupancy  one  year  later. 

A  bequest  from  a  departed  worker,  Mrs.  F.  O. 
Browning,  was  a  welcome  help  to  the  ladies  of  the 
Conference  Society  who  had  pledged  themselves  to  the 
work,  and  wdio  had  "searched  Jerusalem  with  candles" 


I20  Twenty  Years'  History 

(as  Mrs.  Mather  puts  it  in  one  of  her  reports)  in  a 
heroic  endeavor  to  complete  it  without  encumbrance. 
In  deference  to  Mrs.  Mather's  wish,  the  Home  was 
named  "Browning  Home"  in  honor  of  her  departed 
friend. 

As  there  are  no  Church  schools  within  a  long  dis- 
tance,  the  school  was  continued  in  a  rented  house,  one 
hundred  and  five  pupils  being  enrolled  in  1888.  In 
1890  the  Society  purchased,  for  seventeen  hundred  dol- 
lars, the  property  of  Mrs.  Mather  in  Camden,  a  lot 
of  twenty-seven  acres  with  a  commodious,  well-built 
house,  Mrs.  Mather  donating  three  hundred  dollars 
of  this  amount.  In  the  years  just  succeeding  sixteen 
hundred  dollars  were  put  upon  it  in  repairs  and  im- 
provements. A  Superintendent  and  three  teachers  were 
employed,  with  thirty-five  in  the  Home,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  in  the  school. 

''Plantation  Work"  was  early  made  a  feature  of 
the  work  here.  The  missionaries  went  out  into  the 
surrounding  country  and  established,  at  as  many  as 
four  points,  schools,  sewing  classes,  and  evangelistic 
services. 

House-to-house  visitation  and  deeds  of  charity  kept 
them  in  labors  abundant.  The  teachers  brought  with 
them  their  New  England  ideas  of  thrift  and  economy, 
and  the  work  has  been  remarkable  for  the  degree  of 
self-support  attained,  considerable  sums  in  excess  of 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        121 

current  expenses  being  each  year  turned  into  the  treas- 
ury of  the  Home.  All  the  industries  are  taught,  a  spot- 
less cleanliness  characterizes  the  place,  and  many  con- 
versions have  been  reported. 

As  the  pressure  for  students  and  inmates  increased, 
the  large-hearted  benefactress  opened  her  purse  still 
further,  and,  with  the  concurrence  and  assistance  of 
her  family,  made  frequent  improvements  and  additions 
to  the  property.  In  1897  two  thousand  dollars  were 
invested ;  in  1898  there  was  a  bequest  from  Miss 
Wilkes  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  a  loan  of  six  hun- 
dred dollars  from  Mrs.  I\Iather,  the  latter  to  be  repaid 
from  the  self-support  fund. 

The  year  1899  brought  again  a  gift  from  Mrs. 
Mather  of  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  an  additional 
building.  The  following  year,  as  the  demand  seemed 
to  be  for  a  larger  building,  Mrs.  Mather  and  her  sister 
added  two  thousand  dollars  to  the  former  gift,  and 
the  outcome  was  the  erection,  in  1900,  of  a  very  l)eau- 
tiful  chapel  bearing  the  name  of  Mrs.  Mather's  sister, 
Mrs.  Lucy  BabcoCk. 

It  has  a  seating  capacity  of  four  hundred  and  fifty, 
with  dormitory  room  above  for  thirty  additional  girls. 
The  Rock  River  Conference  furnished  the  chapel,  and 
the  music  for  worship  is  aided  by  a  fine  organ,  the 
contribution  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Hamilton,  of 
Pittsburg,  and  a  piano,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright. 


122  Twenty  Years'  History 

As  a  memorial  of  Mrs.  Marietta  Case,  of  South 
Manchester,  Conn,,  the  dining-room  has  been  enlarged 
at  an  expense  of  five  hundred  dollars,  so  that  it  will 
accommodate  one  hundred.  Mrs.  A.  A.  Gordon  was 
vSuperintendent  of  the  Home  from  1890  to  November 
12,  1900,  when  she  "suddenly  ceased  to  live  and  labor." 
She  was  buried,  by  her  own  request,  in  the  colored 
people's  cemetery  at  Camden,  among  the  people  for 
whom  she  had  given  so  many  years  of  service.  The 
living  keep  her  memory  green  and  her  grave  bright 
with  flowers.  Miss  Nellie  Crouch  served  efficiently  as 
teacher  for  the  same  length  of  time.  Other  assistants 
have  been  Misses  Breed,  Russell,  and  Sprague. 

Dr.  J.  W.  Waugh  and  wife,  formerly  missionaries 
to  India,  have  spent  some  time  in  "Browning  Home," 
giving  their  help  to  the  work.  He  has  made  himself 
invaluable  in  supervising  the  mechanical  improvements 
and  in  directing  spiritual  efforts. 

The  school  course  ranges  from  kindergarten  to  nor- 
mal, and  girls  are  graduated  acceptably  from  Brown- 
ing School  to  Claflin  University. 

In  1900  the  school,  by  request  of  Mrs.  Mather,  be- 
came "Mather  Academy,"  as  a  memorial  of  her  de- 
ceased husband.  At  this  time  she  invested  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  to  be  used  for  this  institution  when  prin- 
cipal and  interest  shall  become  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars.    At  her  death.  May  14,  1901,  she  left  the  half 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       123 

of  her  estate  to  "Browning  Home,"  to  be  available 
when  it  should  amount  to  ten  thousand  dollars.  Thus 
this  fine  property,  three  good  buildings  on  a  large 
campus,  "Browning  Home"  and  "Mather  iVcademy" 
and  "Lucy  Babcock  Chapel,"  constitutes  the  most  com- 
plete plant  with  the  fullest  endowment  of  any  in  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  For  this  suc- 
cessful issue  the  Society  is  indebted  not  a  little  to  the 
latest  Bureau  Secretary,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright. 

ALLEN    LIOAIE,   ASIIEVILLE,    N.   C. 

Rev.  L.  M.  Pease  and  wife,  who  were  the  founders 
of  the  famous  "Five  Points  Mission"  in  New  York 
City,  may  properly  be  called  the  founders  of  the  work 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  at  Asheville, 
N.  C.  Going  to  this  beautiful  mountain  resort  many 
years  ago  because  of  Dr.  Pease's  impaired  health,  they 
w^ere  very  soon  impressed  with  the  great  need  of  help 
from  without  for  the  large  colored  population  within 
reach  from  this  point.  Acting  upon  this  benevolent 
impulse,  in  1887  they  proffered  to  the  Society  a  large 
town  lot,  upon  which  was  a  two-story  frame  building 
already  equipped  for  school  purposes  and  a  small 
dwelling-house,  the  whole  worth  five  thousand  dollars. 

The  conditions  of  the  gift  entailed  a  departure  from 
the  usual  lines  of  work  adopted  by  the  Society  prior  to 
that  time,  being  the  maintenance  of  a  graded  school  in 


124  Twenty  Years'  History 

which  the  common  EngHsh  branches,  as  well  as  the 
industrial  arts,  should  be  taught. 

Thus  a  valuable  property  was  acquired  free  of 
cost  to  the  Women's  Home  Missionary  Society,  and 
Rev.  Newell  S.  Albright  was  appointed  Organizer 
and  Superintendent  of  the  work.  He  was  assisted 
by  Miss  Alsie  B.  Dole,  who  remains  in  charge  of  the 
educational  work  at  this  point  at  the  present  time. 

The  number  of  pupils  ranged  from  five  on  the 
first  day  to  two  hunderd  and  forty-three  six  months 
later,  their  ages  varying  from  four  to  forty-five  years. 
At  one  time  twelve  married  women  and  two  grand- 
mothers were  in  the  school,  all  eager  to  benefit  by  ad- 
vantages which  had  earlier  been  denied  them.  A  tui- 
tion fee  of  ten  cents  a  week  was  charged,  but  so  marked 
was  the  appreciation  of  the  school,  that  even  after 
the  opening  in  1892  of  a  graded,  free  school  for  colored 
children,  we  find  one  hundred  and  thirty  pupils  en- 
rolled, and  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  in  the  sewing 
classes. 

The  elevated  moral  tone  of  the  surroundings  and 
the  religious  awakening  accompanying  the  faithful  min- 
istrations of  earnest  Christian  teachers,  has  told  won- 
derfully upon  the  lives  of  all  those  who  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  institution. 

The  original  school  building,  adjoining  the  Home, 
is    still   used;    the    lower    part    as    a    chapel,    and    is 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        125 

the  only  Methodist  Episcopal  church  for  the  colored 
people  in  Asheville.  Pictures  of  John  Wesley,  Fred 
Douglass,  Mrs.  Hayes,  and  Frances  Willard  adorn 
its  walls. 

Miss  F.  V.  Russell  was  made  Superintendent  in 
1888.  Miss  Elma  Levering  was  added  in  1889,  and 
Miss  Cozy  Miller  in  1892. 

The  necessity  for  maintaining  a  school  held  back 
the  Society  for  a  number  of  years  from  attempting 
its  preferred  form  of  effort,  the  establishment  of  an 
Industrial  Home.  The  nearest  approach  to  this  was 
a  small  house,  which  made  a  cozy  home  for  the  mis- 
sionaries, where  they  lived  with  from  two  to  six 
capable  girls  of  the  school  as  assistants  and  bene- 
ficaries. 

In  the  sewing-classes,  garments  were  made  and 
sold,  bringing  in  a  fund  from  which  they  cheerfully 
put  into  the  general  treasury  of  the  Woman's  Home 
]\Iissionary  Society  small  sums  from  time  to  time, 
besides  fifty  dollars  to  name  a  room  in  the  Mother's 
Jewels  Home,  and  the  same  amount  to  place  a  me- 
morial room  in  the  Home  they  hoped  to  see  built 
for  themselves.  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt  was  the  efficient 
Secretary  during  these  years. 

In  1893,  Mrs.  Marriage  Allen,  of  London,  Eng- 
land, a  tourist  sojourner  at  the  Sanitarium,  who  had 
previously    signified    her    approval    by    liberal    gifts, 


126  Twenty  Years'  History 

donated  one  thousand  dollars  to  found  the  "Allen  In- 
dustrial Home."  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright  was  made  Secre- 
tary of  the  Bureau  in  1894,  an  appropriation  of  five 
thousand  dollars  was  made,  and  the  work  was  pushed 
to  completion  in  1896.  During  1896,  1897,  and  1898, 
$8,800  was  paid  out,  and  the  large  beautiful  building 
was  dedicated  February  7,  1897,  almost  free  from 
debt.  The  donations  from  Mrs.  Allen  amounted  in 
all  to  about  two  thousand  dollars.  The  unceasing 
interest  of  Dr.  Pease,  who  gave  not  only  financial 
aid,  but  personal  attention  to  details,  ensured  much 
larger  realizations  from  the  money  expended  than 
could  have  been  otherwise  attained.  The  property 
consists  of  the  large  new  ''Home,"  eighty  by  forty-six 
feet,  and  a  school  building.  The  two  cottages  ad- 
joining were  sold,  and  moved  from  the  grounds. 

This  work  at  Asheville  commands  the  respect 
and  sympathy  of  a  large  number  of  permanent  resi- 
dents. The  colored  people  who  are  drawn  to  this 
city,  now  recognized  as  the  "Saratoga  of  the  South," 
by  exceptional  opportunities  for  employment,  belong 
to  the  more  capable  and  intelligent  class,  and  this 
institution  is  to  them  a  constant  inspiration  to  high 
and  noble  aims.  Sixteen  hundred  pupils  have  in  the 
past  twelve  years  profited  by  its  teachings,  and  are 
now  seen  filling  all  places  in  the  city  where  the  best 
service  is  required,  gratefully  attributing  their  pres- 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        127 

cut  prosperit}-  to  the  help  of  this  Mission.  The  pres- 
ent Home  will  accommodate  sixty  girls,  and  over  it 
floats  one  of  the  beautiful  United  States  flags,  with 
which  the  President  of  the  Society,  ]\Irs.  Clinton  B. 
Fisk,  has  adorned  so  many  mission  buildings.  Miss 
Kate  Doughty  is  Superintendent  of  the  Home,  and 
jMiss  Alsie  B.  Dole  is  still  at  the  head  of  the  school. 

KKNT  HOMi:,   GREENSBORO^  S.   C. 

In  1884,  the  Troy  Conference,  under  the  lead  of 
such  workers  as  Mrs.  E.  W.  Simpson,  long  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  of  that  Conference,  j\Irs.  Anna 
Kent,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  D.  Snow,  of  Gloversville,  N.  Y., 
inaugurated  at  Greensboro,  N.  C,  an  effort  for  the 
establishment  of  a  "Model"  or  Industrial  Home  there 
in  connection  with  Bennett  Acadeniy.  Dr.  Wilbur 
Steele,  President  of  the  x\cadeniy,  who  had  taken  his 
bride  from  one  of  the  homes  of  this  Conference,  was 
instrumental  in  calling  attention  to  the  need  of  such 
an  institution,  and  in  arousing  interest  in  the  work 
of  supplying  that  need.  A  site  was  purchased  ad- 
jacent to  the  Academy,  and,  in  1886,  a  superior  build- 
ing, containing  seventeen  rooms,  and  admirably 
adapted  to  its  purpose,  was  completed  free  of  debt. 
To  Mrs.  Kent  whose  timely  gift  of  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  made  this  result  possible, 
was    voted    the    privilege    of    naming    the    Home    in 


128  Twenty  Years'  History 

memory  of  her  husband,  Mr.  James  Kent,  then  re- 
cently deceased.  Mrs.  Isabella  Ward,  of  Gloversville, 
left,  by  will  about  the  same  time,  property  which 
realized  eight  hundred  and  forty  nine  dollars  to  aid 
in  the  erection  of  the  Home.  Every  room  bore  the 
name  of  some  loving,  generous  friend,  and  the  furnish- 
ings, bedding,  linen,  dishes,  etc.,  were  contributed  by 
the  Societies  of  Troy  Conference.  To  complete  their 
offering  of  love  to  this  work,  the  Conference  also 
found  an  ideal  Superintendent  in  the  person  of  Mrs. 
Sarah  D.  Snow,  who  opened  the  Home  in  1886.  May 
2,  1887,  at  a  time  when  a  large  Convention  was  held 
in  the  town,  and  many  visitors  were  in  attendance, 
it  was  dedicated  with  impressive  ceremonies.  Rev. 
J.  S.  Sawyer,  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  made  the  address,  and 
Mrs.  Kent  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  W.  Simpson  were 
present.  Twelve  girls  were  in  training  this  year,  six 
of  these  were  beneficiaries  of  Troy  Conference. 

In  1888,  Mrs.  Snow's  health  having  failed,  she 
was  relieved,  and  Miss  C.  jM.  Buckbee  succeeded  her, 
with  Mrs.  Sara  M.  Daley  as  assistant  and  missionary. 

The  Home  had  some  peculiar  trials  this  year.  Rev. 
Thomas  Joiner,  who  had  suffered  great  persecutions 
at  the  hands  of  some  Southern  white  people,  because 
of  his  willingness  to  fraternize  with  his  colored  breth- 
ren in  his  efforts  to  uplift  them,  was  cared  for  in 
Kent  Home.     But  in  spite  of  all  difficulties,  the  new 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       129 

Superintendent  could  write  at  the  end  of  the  year: 
"Our  outlook  for  the  coming  year  could  hardly  be 
brighter.  Let  me  mention  one  encouraging  example 
which  has  cheered  us.  A  girl  who  came  last  year 
from  a  far  country  home  that  was  almost  heathenish, 
the  youngest,  the  wildest,  the  blackest  of  our  band, 
has  become  so  changed  that  she  is  my  right-hand 
girl  in  the  Home — gentle,  ladylike,  and  faithful." 

Besides  the  Superintendents  and  teachers  named, 
there  have  been  others — Mrs.  M.  S.  Dunbar,  Miss 
Mary  Tripp,  Airs.  A.  L.  Clark,  Miss  Ida  Lewis,  and 
Miss  S.  E.  Thornborough.  Miss  Lewis  and  Miss 
Thornborough  had  had  deaconess  training;  Miss 
Lewis  served  tw^o  years  and  Miss  Thornborough  four 
years.  Following  these  w^ere  Airs.  M.  K.  Bruce 
and  Miss  Carrie  L.  Crowell.  Mrs.  Snow,  after  an 
absence  of  tw^o  years,  returned  to  her  loved  work  at 
Kent  Home  in  1896.  Of  her  Mrs.  Kent  wrote,  ''More 
is  due  to  Mrs.  Snow  than  to  any  other  woman  for 
the  success  of  that  Home  for  colored  girls."  She 
died  in  peace  July  21,  1899.  Her  last  thoughts  on 
earth  were  given  to  the  work  she  loved. 

NEW^    JERSEY    INDUSTRIAL    HOME,    MQRRISTGW^N^    TENN. 

This  Home  is  allied  with  Morristown  Seminary 
of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  which  is  situated  sev- 
enty miles  northeast  of  Knoxvillc,  Tenn.,  and  in  the 


130  Twenty  YearsV  History 

center  of  a  large  colored  population.  It  stands  on 
the  slope  of  a  most  picturesque  hill  that  commands 
a  magnificent  view  of  the  mountains,  forests,  and 
cultivated  fields  of  the  beautiful  region  of  Eastern 
Tennessee. 

One  of  the  first  missionaries  for  the  colored  peo- 
ple of  Morristown  was  Mrs.  H.  Stearns,  of  Elizabeth, 
N.  J.  Her  husband,  a  soldier  and  a  local  preacher, 
after  the  battle  of  Port  Royal,  began  work  among 
the  colored  refugees,  and  died  in  the  midst  of  his 
toil  six  months  after.  Mrs.  Stearns,  in  her  loneliness, 
felt  called  of  God  to  undertake  the  work  her  hus- 
band had  laid  down,  and  was  led  to  Morristown, 
Tenn.,  where  she  arrived  with  her  little  daughter  in 
November,  1869.  In  1881,  the  Freedmen's  Aid  So- 
ciety of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  began  work 
in  Morristown,  with  Rev.  Judson  Hill  in  charge. 
Mrs.  Stearns's  school  was  merged  into  his,  and  she 
taught  steadily  until  she  was  seventy  years  old,  liv- 
ing for  more  than  twenty  years  in  the  humble  dor- 
mitory of  the  colored  students,  and  identified  in  many 
ways  with  their  interests. 

The  need  for  industrial  instruction  was  so  ap- 
parent that,  in  1887,  President  Hill  proposed  that  if 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  would  send 
an   industrial   teacher   there,   he   would   arrange   that 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       131 

she  should  have  her  daily  classes  in  sewing  and  in- 
dustry meet  in  the  large  dining-room  of  the  board- 
ing hall.  An  appropriation  was  made,  and  the  teacher, 
Miss  Carrie  Snider,  was  sent.  She  had  over  one  hun- 
dred girls  in  her  department  from  day  to  day,  a  grat- 
ifying feature  of  her  work  being  that  many  mothers 
from  the  town  came,  and  begged  to  be  taught  how 
to  cut  and  fit  and  make  plain  garments  for  their 
families. 

To  this  industrial  work,  Miss  Snider  added  Sun- 
day-school teaching,  temperance  meetings,  Bible 
readings,  and  visits  to  the  huts  and  cabins,  so  num- 
erous in  that  mission  field.  She  became  an  angel  of 
light  in  many  humble  homes. 

This  work  was  early  adopted  as  the  protege  of 
the  New  Jersey  and  Newark  Conferences,  and,  while 
yet  it  was  being  conducted  in  rooms  of  the  Sem- 
inary building,  the  ladies  of  those  Conferences  pro- 
vided the  means  by  which  it  was  sustained.  Furni- 
ture, sewing-machines,  charts,  and  other  appliances 
were  furnished  and  cared  for  for  several  years,  with 
reference  to  use  in  the  prospective  Home,  during 
which  period  funds  were  collected,  and  plans  matured 
to  make  it  materialize.  Mrs.  Anna  Kent,  having  in 
the  meantime  removed  within  the  bounds  of  the  Con- 
ferences interested,   became  the  leader  in   the  enter- 


132  Twenty  Years'  History 

prise,  and,  with  her  hberal-minded  coadjutor,  Mrs. 
Clinton  B.  Fisk,  many  times  thereafter  stood  sponsor 
for  it  in  seasons  of  financial  straitness. 

In  1890,  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  having  pur- 
chased a  more  desirable  situation  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  town,  presented  to  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  a  plot  of  ground  a  little  more  than 
an  acre  in  extent,  upon  which  to  erect  the  desired 
building.  Mrs.  Fisk  and  Mrs.  Kent  visited  the  place, 
and  held  a  service  upon  the  site  of  the  future 
Home.  The  contract  was  let,  and  the  building  pushed 
to  completion  in  1892,  Mrs.  Kent  advancing  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  money  to  hasten  the  work.  It 
was  a  tasteful  and  comfortable  house,  worth  four 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  capable  of  ac- 
commodating twenty  girls,  and  was  named  "The 
New  Jersey  Industrial  Home."  It  was  opened  in  the 
autumn  of  1892,  with  Miss  Emma  Ernsberger  as 
Superintendent. 

In  the  summer  of  1896,  the  Home  was  some- 
what enlarged,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  girls  were 
reported  in  the  sewing-classes  of  the  following  year. 
October  5th  was  a  red-letter  day  in  the  history  of 
the  institution,  marked  by  the  raising  with  appropriate 
ceremonies  of  a  beautiful  flag  above  the  Home  in  the 
presence  of  Bishop  Mallalieu  and  other  distinguished 
visitors.     The  flag  was  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Fisk. 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       133 

Mothers'  meetings,  wherever  practical,  have  been 
held  on  the  campus,  attended  by  women  who  have 
hurried  from  their  labors  long  distances  to  be  pres- 
ent. One  of  these  simple,  earnest  souls  expressed 
the  appreciation  of  the  many  when  she  said  to  the 
Superintendent :  ''These  meetin's  is  a  feed  to  me.  I  Ve 
been  like  a  new-greased  wagon  ever  since  the  first 
one.     I  just  run  along  easylike  over  every  difficult." 

The  girls  cared  for  in  the  Home  have  been,  with 
few  exceptions,  beneficiaries.  They  have  come  from 
poor  families  in  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Virginia,  and 
Georgia.  Most  of  them  have  made  good  records 
as  students  in  the  Seminary.  In  1898,  one  girl  took 
first  prize  for  an  original  hymn  over  all  other  South- 
ern colored  schools.  The  prizes  were  awarded  by 
"The  Stewart  jNIissionary  Foundation  of  Atlanta, 
Ga.  One  of  the  graduates  of  1898  married  a  pro- 
fessor in  Nashville  College,  Tennessee.  Aliranda  Hep- 
ler  and  Rachel  Jefferson,  graduates,  have  been  valued 
and  capable  assistants  in  the  Home. 

Miss  Emma  Ernsberger,  the  first  Superintendent, 
remained  in  this  Home  for  two  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded, September  10,  1894,  by  Miss  Anna  Mosher, 
of  Michigan,  who  still  fills  this  responsible  position. 
Miss  Carrie  Snider,  the  first  missionary  and  indus- 
trial teacher,  w^as  married  in  July,  1893,  and  left  the 
w^ork.      In   the    year    1897,    Mrs.    S.    D.    Snow,    pre- 


134  Twenty  Years'  History 

viously  of  "Kent  Home,"  was  associated  with  the 
New  Jersey  Home.  All  these  have  been  devoted  and 
efficient  workers,  who  have  placed  the  stamp  of  their 
holy  influence  upon  many  undeveloped  characters. 
Truly  wrote  the  Secretary  of  this  Bureau,  Mrs.  Mary 
Fisk  Park,  in  1900,  "It  pays  to  work  with  God  in 
helping  a  life  into  harmony  with  himself,  and  giving 
to  the  world  a  useful  woman." 

BUREAUS  FOR  WEST  SOUTHERN  STATES  AND 
TEXAS 

The  Bureau  for  West  Southern  States  formerly 
included  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  in  the  States  of  Arkansas,  Mississippi, 
and  Louisiana.  In  the  early  history  of  these  Homes 
they  were  cared  for  directly  by  the  General  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  Mrs.  Rust.  In  1887,  Mrs.  M.  B. 
Hagans,  of  Cincinnati,  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
the  Bureau,  and,  with  the  most  painstaking  fidelity, 
she  carried  it  upon  her  heart  for  six  years.  Not 
one  of  the  Homes,  not  one  of  the  missionaries,  not^ 
one  of  the  girls  even,  but  had  a  warm  place  in  her 
sympathies.  Her  husband.  Judge  Hagans,  was 
also  greatly  interested,  and  for  many  years  gave  to 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  valuable 
legal  service  without  financial  consideration.  In 
1894,  Mrs.  F.  A.  Arter,  of  Cleveland,  O.,  a  daughter 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       135 

of  the  beloved  Bishop  Kingslcy,  accepted  the  Bureau, 
and  conducted  it  with  efficiency  for  five  years,  when 
she  passed  it  on  in  much  improved  condition  into 
the  hands  of  her  successor,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Bayhss,  of 
Evanston,  111.  iVt  the  same  time  the  Bureau  for 
Mississippi  was  constituted  with  Mrs.  H.  C.  Hedges, 
of  Alansfield,  O.,  as  Secretary.  Mrs.  Hedges,  a 
thoroughly  efficient  w^oman,  had  long  been  contribut- 
ing, both  by  her  gifts  and  her  service,  to  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  and  Mrs.  Bayliss  ranks  with 
*'the  founders."  Her  name  should  stand  with  honor 
upon  the  portals  at  the  gateway  of  the  organization. 
She  was  succeeded,  in  1901,  by  Mrs.  K.  V.  Falley,  of 
Evanston,  111. 

The  Texas  Bureau  has  been  blessed  with  efficient 
Seretaries,  who  have  served  in  the  following  order: 
Mrs.  W.  C.  Herron,  of  Cincinnati,  since  1886,  a 
valued  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees ;  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Gosling,  who  has  held  a  similar  relation  to  the  Board 
in  Cincinnati,  where  her  counsel  is  highly  esteemed  ; 
and  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright,  who  has  a  record  for  effi- 
ciency hardly  surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  organ- 
ization. Mrs.  Albright  stood  at  the  head  of  this 
Bureau  from  1889  to  1894.  She  was  succeeded  by 
]\Irs.  M.  C.  Hickman,  who  gave  to  the  Bureau  three 
years  of  zealous  attention.  In  1896,  Mrs.  Lavanda  G. 
Murphy  became  Secretary  of  the  Texas  Bureau.     She 


136  Twenty  Years'  History 

brought  to  her  work  a  breadth  of  view,  a  knowledge 
of  affairs,  and  a  persuasive  eloquence  which  has  made 
her,  in  every  sense,  a  successful  Secretary. 

ade:une:  m.  smith  home:,  little:  rock^  ark. 

At  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  is  situated  the  college  of 
the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  bearing  the  name  of 
Philander  Smith,  a  name  widely  known  through- 
out Methodism,  and  which  is  identified  with  many 
and  significant  forms  of  humanitarian  beneficence. 
To  co-operate  with  this  institution  and  closely  ad- 
jacent to  it,  there  was  erected,  in  1883,  the  "Adeline 
Smith  Industrial  Home"  for  colored  girls ;  a  neat  cot- 
tage of  eight  rooms,  costing,  when  completed  and 
furnished,  two  thousand  four  hundred  dollars.  The 
entire  cost  of  the  enterprise  was  borne  by  that  noble 
benefactress,  Mrs.  Philander  Smith,  of  Oak  Park, 
111.,  and  her  daughter  and  son-in-law,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
William  E.  Blackstone,  of  the  same  place,  the  latter 
contributing  the  furnishings.  It  was  dedicated,  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1884,  by  Bishop  Bowman,  Bishop  Wiley, 
and  Dr.  Rust,  with  Miss  Elizabeth  H.  Macintosh  as 
the  first  Superintendent.  Built  to  accommodate  a 
family  of  nine  or  ten  girls,  so  great  was  the  desire 
of  the  people  to  profit  by  its  advantages,  that  four- 
teen were  soon  crowded  into  it. 

During   1886  and   1887  plans  were  made  by  the 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       137 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  a  site  pur- 
chased, a  valuable  piece  of  land  worth  two  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars,  upon  which  was  erected  a  new 
building,  which  was  completed  and  dedicated  :\Iarch 
7,  1887.  As  stipulated  by  Mrs.  Smith,  the  original 
building  was  turned  over  to  the  college  as  a  residence 
for  the  President,  and  the  new  building,  worth  four 
thousand  dollars,  was  her  free-will  offering  to  the 
W^oman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  Of  this  new 
Home  and  its  workers,  it  was  written  at  the  close 
of  that  year,  "The  pious  example  and  teachings  of 
the  Superintendent  and  her  assistants  have  resulted 
in  the  conversion  of  every  girl  in  the  Home."  The 
order  and  system  maintained,  and  the  efficiency  of 
the  pupils  was  said  to  be  such  as  to  rival  many  North- 
ern schools  in  these  particulars. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  school  year,  1896,  IMrs. 
Hilda  M.  Nasmyth  became  Superintendent.  She 
was  born  in  Stockholm,  Sweden,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  went  to  Africa  as  a  missionary.  Her  health 
failing  there,  she  came  to  America,  and  was  accepted 
by  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  upon  the 
recommendation  of  Bishop  Taylor  and  Bishop  Mer- 
rill. She  has  proved  herself  a  power  for  good  to 
the  people  among  whom  she  labors,  a  storage  battery 
of  spiritual  energy  and  enthusiasm. 

In   1899,  December   12th,  ground  was  broken  for 


138  Twenty  Years'  History 

an  annex;  it  consisted  of  a  large  industrial  room, 
a  storeroom,  and  dormitory  accommodations  for  fifty 
additional  students ;  the  old  building  was  also  re- 
paired and  improved.  During  the  year  ending  June, 
1 90 1,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  girls  were  en- 
rolled. The  people  reached  by  this  Home  and 
school  are  mainly  very  poor,  "the  girls  have  planted 
and  picked  cotton,  others  washed  and  worked  for 
white  people  to  get  the  money  to  sustain  them  in  the 
Home,  and  then  wept  for  joy  that  the  way  had  been 
opened." 

In  1895,  Mrs.  Adeline  Smith  passed  to  her  heav- 
enly home,  leaving  the  institution,  which  had  been 
her  care  and  joy,  to  become  the  ward  of  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  to  which  it  must  hence- 
forth look  entirely  for  its  support.  "Many  dark  sisters 
have  gone  from  this  Home  to  scatter  knowledge, 
religion,  industry,  and  sunshine  through  the  cabin 
homes  of  the  communities  from  which  they  came, 
cherishing  always,  with  grateful  recollection,  mem- 
ories of  the  kind  donor,  whose  name  to  them  will  be 
ever  'blessed.'  " 

E.  I..  RUST  home;,  hoi^IvY  springs,  miss. 

The  third  Model  Home  to  be  put  in  operation  for 
colored  girls  in  the  South  was  inaugurated  at  Holly 
Springs,  Miss.,  in  1883,  in  connection  with  Rust  Uni- 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       139 

versity,  and  named  for  Airs.  Elizabeth  Lownes  Rust. 
A  property  of  fourteen  acres,  with  three  small  houses, 
was  purchased  in  1883,  and  a  good  frame  building, 
large  enough  to  accommodate  twenty-four  girls,  was 
erected  in  the  autumn  of  1884.  Another  building 
served  for  a  laundry  below  and  sewing  department 
above,  in  wdiich  not  only  the  girls  of  the  Home  re- 
ceived instruction,  but  also  one  hundred  or  more 
pupils  of  the  University.  The  Slater  Fund  con- 
tributed four  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  to  the 
development  of  the  industrial  work  in  the  Home.  In 
addition  to  the  usual  domestic  employments,  E.  L. 
Rust  Home  provides  some  rather  unusual  lines  of 
practical  training.  Beekeeping  has  taught  a  re- 
munerative industry,  and,  at  the  same  time,  has 
proved  a  source  of  immediate  income  to  the  Home. 
The  large  grounds  belonging  to  the  place  have  been 
utilized  in  giving  systematic  instruction  in  fruit-rais- 
ing and  gardening.  Nurse-training  has  been,  from 
the  first,  a  successful  department  of  this  Home. 

A  unique  feature  of  its  work  has  been  "The  Old 
Sisters'  Home."  One  of  the  cottages  was  comfort- 
ably fitted  up,  in  1890,  as  a  place  of  refuge  for  a  few 
old  women,  relics  of  slavery,  wdio  otherwise  would 
have  suffered.  The  care  of  these  has  been  a  blessing 
to  the  girls,  who  have  cheerfully  done  what  they  could 
to  brighten  their  declining  days. 


140  Twenty  Years'  History 

Miss  Sophia  Johnson,  who  opened  the  Home  in 
1884,  was  continuously  in  its  service  for  thirteen 
years.  Few  women  have  done  more  to  build  up  any 
institution  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society. 
Her  wise  management,  and  steadfast  Christian  char- 
acter, were  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  work  through 
all  those  years.  She  was  succeeded,  in  1897,  by  Miss 
Ora  Silvey  for  one  year,  then  by  Miss  Phinette  Bris- 
tol for  two  years.  In  1900,  ]\Iiss  Lou  Johnson  be- 
came Superintendent.  Miss  H.  A.  Lindsay,  Miss 
Ida  Gibson,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Speer,  and  Miss  Grace  Demp- 
ster have  been  successively  capable  instructors  in  in- 
dustrial training. 

In  1895,  Miss  Gibson  wrote  of  the  spiritual  work: 
''The  conversion  of  every  girl  in  the  Home  has  made 
us  very  happy.  It  has  rarely  happened  that  a  girl 
has  remained  with  us  a  year  without  becoming  a 
Christian." 

PE:CK  home,   new   ORI.EANS,   LA. 

At  New  Orleans,  La.,  in  1887,  ground  was  pur- 
chased at  a  cost  of  three  thousand  dollars  as  a  site  for 
a  model  Home.  It  consisted  of  an  entire  square  of 
three  acres,  and  was  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Ziba  Bennett, 
of  Wilkesbarre,  Pa.  Upon  this  lot  the  Peck  Home 
was  erected  in  1889,  most  of  the  funds  for  which 
were  raised  by  the  Central  New  York  Conference,  as 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       141 

a  loving  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Bishop  Jesse  T. 
Peck.  ]\Irs.  Judge  M.  B.  Hagans,  of  Cincinnati,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Building  Committee,  and  Secretary 
of  this  Bureau,  gave  to  its  erection  her  most  care- 
ful personal  attention.  It  was  dedicated  November 
8,  1889,  and  was  one  of  the  largest  and  best  ap- 
pointed buildings  owned  by  the  Society.  It  had  ac- 
commodations for  twenty-five  girls.  Mrs.  H.  'M. 
Hageman  was  for  a  number  of  years  its  Superin- 
tendent. Being  situated  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  University  buildings  (Freedmen's  Aid  So- 
ciety), it  was  somewhat  hampered  in  educational 
work,  but  most  effective  instruction  was  given  its 
beneficaries  in  the  household  economies  until  in  Jan- 
uary, 1897,  the  house  was  destroyed  by  fire.  The  year 
preceding  this  disaster  is  recorded  as  one  of  the  most 
successful  in  the  history  of  the  Home.  Miss  Char- 
lotte Hickman  was  in  charge  the  last  two  years. 

In  1899,  the  lot  upon  which  the  Home  had  stood 
was  sold  by  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety for  nine  thousand  dollars  cash.  The  follow- 
ing year  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  offered  the 
permanent  lease  of  a  site  just  in  the  rear  of  and  across 
the  street  from  the  New  Orleans  University.  It  was 
decided  to  accept  this  proposition,  and  a  conditional 
appropriation  of  eight  thousand  dollars  was  made 
for  the  rebuilding  of  the  Home. 


142  Twenty  Years'  History 

Other  lines  of  home  missionary  effort,  aside  from 
that  for  colored  girls  and  women,  have  been  made 
continuously  through  the  years  by  the  Society  in 
New  Orleans.  A  mission  for  the  white  operatives  in 
the  factories  was  begun  in  1888.  Thousands  of  girls, 
some  of  very  tender  years,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
cotton  mills,  unhealthy,  untaught,  and  unreached  by 
religious  influence.  The  hearts  of  the  missionaries 
were  drawn  out  to  them,  a  reading-room  was  opened, 
a  library  provided,  an  organ  donated,  and  earnest 
efforts  made  to  lead  their  feet  into  paths  of  virtue 
and  holy  living. 

The  large  French  and  Italian  population  of  the 
city  also  attracted  the  eft'orts  of  the  Society,  and 
evangelistic  work  has  been  carried  on  among  them 
with  success.  Especially  has  this  been  true  of  the 
Italians.  One  missionary  each  year  has  been  detailed 
for  this  department  since  1889,'  Miss  Page,  Miss  Gib- 
son, and  Miss  Robertson  having  served  in  this  ca- 
pacity. The  night-school  has  been  a  special  feature, 
numbering,  at  times,  forty  pupils.  "Alone  and  un- 
protected, save  by  the  'all-seeing  eye  of  God,'  "  says 
the  Bureau  Secretary,  Mrs.  F.  A.  Arter,  "these 
women  have  lived  in  one  of  the  worst  sections  of 
New  Orleans,"  allowing  no  opportunity  to  pass  un- 
improved for  sowing  the  seed  of  the  kingdom,  and 
some  of  the  harvest  is  already  in  sight. 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       i 


fs 


While  the  work  of  the  Society  in  New  Orleans 
has  not  resulted  in  building-  up  any  one  imposing 
missionary  center,  its  intluence  for  good  has  been 
widely  pervasive  and  effective.  Churches  have  been 
built  up,  Sunday-schools  established,  Epworth  Leagues 
organized,  and  temperance  and  evangelistic  efforts 
have  been  carried  on  in  scores  of  places,  reaching 
many  and  widely  divergent  communities.  House-to- 
house  visitation  has  been  kept  up,  and  fallen  w^omen 
reclaimed. 

In  this  city,  from  wdiich  Airs.  Hartzell  sent  forth 
her  first  pleading  message  concerning  the  condition 
of  Negro  women,  and  where  Bishop  Wiley  and  Dr. 
Rust  and  Mrs.  Rust,  looking  on  the  same  degrada- 
tion, resolved,  in  the  name  of  God  and  humanity,  to 
"rise  up  and  build"  a  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society,  the  seed-sowing  of  these  years,  we  confi- 
dentially believe,  has  not  been  in  vain. 

KING    IIOME:^    MARSHALL^   TRX. 

The  colored  population  of  Texas  numbers  nine 
hundred  thousand  souls.  ''King  Industrial  Home," 
located  at  ]\Iarshall,  is  in  wdiat  is  known  as  the 
"Black  Belt"  of  the  State,  where  the  ratio  of  the 
races,  colored  and  white,  is  as  twenty  to  one.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  the  former  live 
within   a   radius   of  one   hundred   miles   of   Marshall. 


144  Twenty  Years'  History 

iMoreover,  three  thousand  persons  of  Negro  blood 
are  employed  in  the  State  as  teachers  in  the  public 
schools.  With  what  meager  equipment  these  go  forth 
to  instruct  the  rising  generation,  let  the  prevailing 
conditions  of  poverty,  illiteracy,  and  superstition 
suggest. 

A  beacon  light  of  promise  in  this  wide  waste 
stands  the  Wiley  University  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid 
Society,  and  by  its  side  materialized,  in  1890,  the 
Industrial  Home  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary Society,  named  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Jane  King, 
of  Delaware,  O.,  ''the  dear  saint  who  bequeathed 
one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  this  pur- 
pose." The  addition  of  other  gifts,  and  years  of 
painstaking  labors  on  the  part  of  the  Bureau  Sec- 
retaries, provided  this  large  and  beautiful  Home, 
in  which  thirty-eight  girls  could  be  housed,  re- 
ceiving the  most  careful  training  in  domestic  econ- 
omy. That  their  religious  culture  was  not  being 
neglected  is  proven  by  the  statement  made  in  1898, 
"Every  girl  but  one  is  a  Christian."  One  hundred  and 
twenty-five  students  from  the  university  shared  with 
those  in  the  Home  the  class-teaching  in  the  house- 
keeping and  industrial  arts. 

It  was  during  the  incumbency  of  Mrs.  Albright 
that  this  Home  was  erected.  She  supervised  the  build- 
ing and  furnishing,  installed  the  teachers,  and  started 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       145 

it  successfully  on  its  blessed  mission.  ]\lrs.  Hickman 
followed  on  similar  lines.  Both  of  these  ladies  visited 
and  inspected  the  work  at  short  range.  In  1899,  ]\Irs. 
Murphy  also,  by  advice  of  the  Board,  paid  a  visit  to 
King  Home,  and  brought  to  the  Annual  ^Meeting  of 
that  year  a  most  encouraging  report.  Heating  ar- 
rangements had  been  provided,  and  the  third  story, 
so  long  unfurnished,  had  been  made  habitable,  afford- 
ing room  for  twenty  additional  girls,  and  no  debt  had 
been  incurred.  She  said :  ''Every  such  school  is  a 
veritable  lighthouse,  and  we  dare  not  cease  our  efforts 
until  the  radiance  of  one  reaches  another  and  the  whole 
land  is  full  of  light.  Out  of  the  fifty  girls  in  the  Home 
this  year  forty-eight  are  members  of  the  Church." 
And  year  after  year  these  go  out  among  their  own  peo- 
ple as  light-bearers,  as  teachers  and  home-makers,  and, 
almost  without  exception,  as  examples  of  influential 
Christian  womanhood. 

Miss  Elizabeth  O.  Elliott,  of  this  Home,  has  been 
called  by  those  who  know,  "the  model  Superintendent." 

At  Harrisburg,  Tex.,  a  point  where  work  for  col- 
ored girls  could  be  profitably  maintained,  sixty  acres 
of  land  has  been  deeded  to  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  by  Rev.  F.  Carson  INIoore,  with  a 
proviso  that  four  thousand  dollars  in  permanent  im- 
provements must  be  put  upon  it  before  the  deed  is 

in  force. 

11 


146  Twenty  Years'  History 

WHITE  WORK  IN  THE  SOUTH 

RITTER  HOME,  ATHENS,  TENN. 

In  1886  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  re- 
ceived a  gift  of  one  thousand  dollars  from  Mrs.  Eliz- 
abeth Ritter,  of  Napoleon,  O.,  as  a  beginning  of  a  work 
for  white  girls  in  the  South.  Christian  women  were  be- 
coming aroused  to  the  realization  that  while  the  moral 
degeneracy  of  the  great  Negro  population  of  the  South- 
land had  called  forth  the  interposition  of  the  Church 
in  the  North,  small  efforts  were  being  made  in  be- 
half of  the  whites  who  had  been  deprived  of  oppor- 
tunities for  education,  either  by  losses  during  the  war, 
or  by  their  remote  location  in  the  mountains.  Al- 
though not  so  numerous  a  class,  their  condition  was 
believed  to  be  almost  as  desperate.  Mrs.  Ritter's  dona- 
tion was  added  to  from  time  to  time  by  others,  the 
Central  Ohio  Conference  adopted  it  as  its  special  work, 
and  after  four  years  of  agitation  and  deliberation,  a 
site  was  chosen  and  a  deed  secured  for  a  beautiful  lot 
on  a  corner  of  the  campus  of  the  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
University  (Southern  Educational  Society,  white 
work),  at  Athens,  Tenn. 

This  was  the  first  effort  made  by  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  to  provide  industrial  train- 
ing for  the  white  girls  of  the  South,  and  was  entered 
upon  with  some  trepidation.     It  was  feared  that  in  a 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       147 

section  of  the  country  where  manual  labor  was,  so  far 
as  possible,  relegated  to  the  blacks,  the  young  women 
of  the  "superior  race"  could  not  be  induced  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantages  of  such  an  institution. 
Cut  the  great  need  of  two  millions  of  mountain  people 
living  within  reach  of  the  educational  advantages  of 
Athens  encouraged  the  projectors  of  the  Home  to  be- 
lieve that,  if  wisely  administered,  it  would,  in  time  at 
least,  be  fully  appreciated.  The  results  have  proved 
their  judgment  correct. 

The  "Elizabeth  Ritter  Home"  was  opened  in  Sep- 
tember, 1 89 1,  w^ith  Mrs.  F.  V.  Chapman,  of  Toledo, 
O.,  in  charge,  and  formally  dedicated  November  3d, 
by  Bishop  Warren  and  Dr.  C.  H.  Payne.  Nearly  one 
hundred  persons,  members  of  the  university  Faculty, 
visitors,  and  friends,  w'ere  entertained  at  luncheon  in 
the  Home  by  the  citizens  of  Athens.  Miss  Anderson, 
of  Dayton,  O.,  began  work  as  sewing  teacher,  but, 
being  compelled  to  resign  on  account  of  illness,  was 
succeeded  by  Miss  Belle  George,  and  later  by  Miss 
Elizabeth  Wilson. 

"Never,"  says  Mrs.  Chapman,  "shall  I  forget  the 
feelings  with  which  I  w^aited  for  pupils,  and  welcomed 
the  first  group  of  three"  who  came  straggling  in  in  a 
dazed,  uncertain  fashion,  as  though  drifting,  as  in- 
deed they  were,  into  a  w^orld  of  strange,  unknown 
conditions.     Then  came  one  more,  then  two,  and  willi 


148  Twenty  Years'  History 

seven  the  Home  was  opened.  Twenty-five  were  ad- 
mitted the  first  year,  and  fifty-one  the  second,  with  an 
average  attendance  of  thirty-six. 

The  experiment  from  an  early  period  proved  an 
eminent  success.  The  poverty  of  the  people  and  their 
long  and  peculiar  isolation  from  the  rest  of  the  world 
have  not  been  sufficient  to  extinguish  the  latent  am- 
bitions which  are  but  the  legitimate  inheritance  from 
their  Scotch-Irish  and  Huguenot  ancestors,  who  early 
settled  the  fastnesses  of  these  mountains.  Many  are 
the  plaintive  appeals  which  come  from  faraway  cabins 
from  young  men  and  women  pleading  for  "a  chance" 
for  the  education  and  training  that  will  enable  them 
to  take  their  proper  places  in  the  world.  Many  of 
these  have  reached  manhood  and  womanhood,  never 
having  had  an  opportunity  to  go  to  school. 

The  school  work,  therefore,  begins  with  the  com- 
mon-school branches,  and  is  largely  confined  to  them, 
though  sonie  ambitious  pupils  pass  on  into  the  col- 
lege classes,  and  are  always  encouraged  to  do  so. 
The  industrial  work  is  dignified  by  being  graded  and 
rated  by  such  standards  as  obtain  in  the  educational 
departments.  The  pupils  pay  seven  dollars  per  month 
into  the  running  expenses  of  the  Home,  and  perform 
all  the  household  duties  themselves,  under  the  care 
of  teachers,  as  a  part  of  their  education.  Coming  often 
from  humble  homes  in  the  mountain  forests,  they  soon 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South       149 

take  a  pardonable  pride  in  their  large,  beautiful  Home, 
and  become  intensely  interested  in  maintaining-  its 
reputation  for  tasteful  and  orderly  management.  A 
single  term  sometimes  so  develops  a  girl  as  to  send 
her  home  an  inspiration  to  her  whole  neighborhood, 
and  a  two  years'  course  of  training  usually  turns  out 
a  dignified,  self-respecting,  self-poised  woman. 

The  expenses  are  kept  so  low  that  earnest  girls 
are  thereby  encouraged  to  try  to  help  themselves,  and 
for  those  who  find  it  impossible  to  do  this  the  Lord 
has  his  chosen  ones  here  and  there  in  the  Churches 
who  love  to  lay  up  treasures  in  heaven  by  aiding  these 
struggling  girls,  remembering  the  significance  of  the 
Word,  "Thy  daughters  shall  be  as  corner-stones 
polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace." 

In  1895  some  storerooms  in  the  Home  were  con- 
verted into  bedrooms,  so  that  it  now  accommodates 
seventy-five  inmates;  and  other  improvements,  such 
as  furnaces,  sewerage,  and  furnishings,  have  been  pro- 
vided from  time  to  time.  The  institution  is  in  fine  con- 
dition, free  from  debt,  and  so  highly  esteemed  by  all 
friends  of  education  in  that  part  of  Tennessee  that  the 
enlargement  of  the  building  promises  to  become  a 
necessity.  A  recent  estimate  by  reliable  real  estate 
men  places  the  valuation  of  the  property  at  fifteen  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars ;  furnishings,  four  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars ;  total,  twentv  thousand  dollars. 


150  Twenty  Years'  History 

The  name  of  Mrs.  Delia  L.  Williams,  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  the 
oversight  of  Ritter  Home,  has  been  inseparably  asso- 
ciated with  the  work  in  all  its  phases.  It  has  seemed 
to  be  her  "favorite  child,"  and  right  loyally  has  it 
reflected  great  credit  upon  this  honored  mother.  "Dear 
Ritter  Home !"  she  wrote  after  a  visit  in  January, 
1900,  "as  fresh  as  if  it  were  all  new,  and  as  neat  as 
if  no  matter  were  ever  out  of  place.  And  such  lovely 
girls !  Some  want  to  be  nurse  deaconesses,  some  visit- 
ing deaconesses,  some  kindergartners,  and  all  want  to 
fill  the  place  God  has  assigned  them  in  life.  Every 
minute  in  the  Home  was  a  benediction." 

Mrs.  F.  V.  Chapman  has  served  from  the  first  as 
Superintendent.  The  Society  has  no  more  faithful 
or  enthusiastic  Home  "mother"  than  she.  Mrs.  J.  I. 
Boswell,  after  a  brief  sojourn  in  the  Home,  wrote: 
"The  more  we  saw  of  Mrs.  Chapman's  work  in  the 
Home,  the  more  we  marveled  at  her  cheerfulness  and 
executive  ability.  Surely  she  was  providentially  led 
to  accept  this  laborious  position  which  she  has  so  ad- 
mirably filled." 

be:nnett  home,  clarkson,  miss. 

At  Clarkson,  Miss.,  similar  conditions  prevailed 
among  the  poorer  whites.  School  and  Church  ad- 
vantages were  limited,  and  of  industrial  training  there 
was  none,    A  school  v^as  started  in  1890  by  the  South- 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        151 

ern  Educational  Society,  and  a  rude  frame  building 
erected  in  which  the  girls  should  be  boarded,  as  the 
houses  of  the  people  were  widely  scattered.  ^Ivs.  Ziba 
Bennett,  of  Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  a  munificent  giver,  came 
to  their  aid,  and  contributed  eight  hundred  dollars  for 
the  completion  of  the  building  and  the  salary  for  one 
year  of  the  Superintendent.  This  was  followed  by 
similar  gifts  from  year  to  year  from  the  same  gen- 
erous source,  and  thus  the  work  w^as  carried  with  very 
small  expense  to  the  general  treasury.  Upper  Iowa 
Conference  also  contributed  by  assuming  for  four  years 
the  salary  of  one  of  the  teachers,  and  by  supplies  and 
other  gifts.  The  cost  of  boarding  per  capita,  including 
teachers,  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum,  having  been 
at  times  only  three  dollars  per  month. 

During  the  year  1898,  Woodland  Academy,  the 
school  of  the  Southern  Educational  Society  at  this 
place,  was  transferred,  with  two  hundred  acres  of  land, 
to  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  on  a  ninety- 
nine  years'  lease,  at  a  nominal  rental  of  one  dollar  per 
year.  This,  with  the  buildings  of  the  Home,  then  be- 
came the  'Triscilla  Lee  Bennett  Home  and  School  for 
white  boys  and  girls,"  named  for  its  generous  patron, 
and  it  is  the  only  institution  of  its  kind  under  the  care 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  all  that  section 
of  country.  Some  repairs  and  improvements  were  then 
made,  and  a  boys'  dormitory  provided. 

The  need  for  a  larger  and  better  building  for  the 


152  Twenty  Years'  History 

Girls'  Industrial  Home  became  so  imperative  that  an 
appropriation  of  five  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  was 
asked  for  at  the  Annual  Meeting  at  Pittsburg,  October, 
1899,  and  conditionally  granted.  On  the  26th  of  De- 
cember following,  the  Bureau  Secretary,  Mrs.  H.  C. 
Hedges,  of  Mansfield,  O.,  was  on  the  spot,  and,  with 
appropriate  ceremonies  conducted  by  the  local  pastor. 
Rev.  Mr.  Lott,  had  the  pleasure  of  turning  the  first 
shovelful  of  earth  for  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone 
of  the  new  building.  In  April,  1900,  the  work  was 
begun  and  pushed  forward  by  Mrs.  Hedges  with  char- 
acteristic energy,  so  that  at  the  succeeding  Annual 
Meeting,  held  in  Chicago,  she  reported  it  as  an  accom- 
plished fact.  A  beautiful  new  house,  containing  fifty- 
six  rooms,  forty-four  of  which  were  bedrooms,  neatly 
furnished  and  supplied  with  all  the  appliances  for  a 
model  Industrial  Home,  had  gladdened  the  eyes  of  the 
faithful  Secretary  and  the  workers  installed  there  to 
conduct  this  beneficent  enterprise.  The  transfer  from 
the  old  quarters  to  the  new  was  made  October  6,  1900. 
Mrs.  Hedges,  who  spent  three  weeks  in  the  village, 
gladly  assisted  with  her  own  hands.  Forty-four  girls 
were  at  once  enrolled. 

This  institution  bids  fair  to  rank  with  Ritter  in 
the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy.  "It  will  prove  a  bless- 
ing to  thousands  of  homes,  making  each  girl  who 
comes  under  its  influence,  not  onlv  a  bearer  to  her 


Industrial  Homes  in  the  South        153 

people  of  the  gospel  of  Christian  living  in  the  higher 
sense,  but  an  exponent  of  Christian  living  in  the  lower 
sense,  the  gospel  of  wholesome  bread  and  well-cooked 
meat,  of  clean  beds,  clean  floors,  and  clean  door- 
yards,  of  orderly  and  well-conducted  homes." 

Miss  Florence  Jackman  and  Miss  iVbby  Putman 
were  successively  the  Superintendents  in  the  first  Ben- 
nett Home,  and  Miss  Carrie  E.  Bing  took  charge  when 
the  new  building  was  opened,  assisted  by  Miss  Ella 
Becker  and  Miss  Laura  Ferrabee. 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  is  one  of  the  few  points 
in  the  Southern  work  where  a  school  is  maintained  by 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  Bennett 
Academy  (formerly  Woodland  Academy),  the  school 
received  by  transfer  from  the  Southern  Educational 
Society,  has  had  a  history  which  amply  justifies  its 
existence.  Under  the  direction  of  Professor  William 
A.  Davis  it  has  done  a  good  work  in  that  locality.  The 
boarding-house  for  boys  is  known  as  "Dickson  Hall." 

em]<;i,ine;  s.  hamlen  home,  kinsey,  ala. 

In  1898,  Dr.  George  Hamlen,  President  of  Malla- 
lieu  Seminary,  Kinsey,  Ala.,  a  school  for  the  benefit 
of  white  people  in  Southeastern  Alabama  and  Western 
Florida,  petitioned  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety for  the  establishment  of  an  Industrial  Home  in 
connection  with  that  work,  ofifering  to  provide  a  l)uild- 


154  Twenty  Years'  History 

ing  and  furnish  it  if  the  ladies  would  support  a 
Superintendent.  During  the  year  1898  and  1899  a 
suitable  house  was  secured  and  put  in  order,  and  Mrs. 
Gunn,  formerly  Miss  Jackman,  of  the  Home  at  Clark- 
son,  was  sent  to  open  the  work.  She  remained  in 
charge  two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Kate 
McMurray,  of  Pennsylvania. 

This,  the  third  Industrial  Home  for  white  girls 
under  the  care  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety and  the  first  work  of  the  Society  in  the  State 
of  Alabama,  is  situated  in  a  section  where  the  white 
population  is  very  poor  and  illiteracy  prevails.  The 
man  who  gave  the  land  on  which  the  seminary  is 
built  said :  ''My  father's  house  had  clay  for  a  floor,  and 
until  I  was  nine  years  old  I  lived  on  bread  and  water 
with  the  exception  of  an  occasional  Christmas,  when  he 
would  buy  us  meat.  When  I  came  of  age  and  went  out 
into  the  world  for  myself,  I  had  nothing,  and  was 
unable  to  read  or  write."  Mothers  with  hands  as  hard 
as  blacksmiths'  from  working  in  the  fields  gladly  make 
sacrifices  to  put  their  children  in  this  school.  One 
woman  said :  "I  would  rather  die  in  my  tracks  at  this 
hard  labor  than  have  my  children  grow  up  in  igno- 
rance as  I  had  to  do."  Thus  some  aspirations  for  a 
better  life  are  stirring  within  them,  and  this  Home 
and  school  is  putting  the  spring  of  hope  into  many 
forlorn  and  dejected  souls. 


CHAPTER  V 
WORK    OF    THE    SOCIETY    IN    THE    WEST 

BUREAU   FOR  INDIANS  AND  FRONTIER 

Mrs.  Harriet  C.  AIcCabe,  who  has  been  intro- 
duced to  the  reader  as  the  editor  of  Woman's  Home 
Missions  and  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Society,  was 
made  Secretary  of  the  ''Bureau  for  Indians  and  Fron- 
tier" at  the  time  of  its  formation,  and  has  been  con- 
tinued from  year  to  year.  She  has  much  of  the  spirit 
of  the  lamented  Helen  Hunt  Jackson  in  her  devotion 
to  these  "wards  of  the  Nation."  The  words  "and 
frontier"  are  significant  as  defining  a  peculiar  con- 
dition of  this  work.  All  over  the  West  the  whites 
gather  at  the  Indian  agencies.  Most  are  adventurers. 
Some  not  already  vicious,  rapidly  imbibe  the  prevailing 
spirit.  The  missionary  is  here,  both  as  a  defense 
against  the  vices  and  greed  of  those  who  would  wrong 
the  Indian,  and  as  a  messenger  of  mercy  to  the  de- 
graded whites  as  well. 

One  missionary  reported  finding  white  children  ten 
and  twelve  years  old  who  had  never  seen  a  preacher 
or  heard   a  prayer.     "The   dead   are   buried   without 

155 


156  Twenty  Years'  History 

a  prayer,  for  there  is  no  one  to  pray."  "Let  it  be  re- 
membered that  Indian  missions  possess  the  new  coun- 
try for  Christ." 

PAWNEE^   OKI.A. 

It  was  in  the  days  when  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was 
at  the  height  of  his  popularity,  that,  at  a  large  and  en- 
thusiastic meeting  held  in  his  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
by  the  Woman's  National  Indian  Association,  the  Paw- 
nee Mission  of  Oklahoma  was  founded.  It  was  the 
method  of  this  association  to  create  a  mission,  then 
pass  it  over  to  the  care  of  some  evangelical  Church.  In 
this  way  the  Pawnee  Mission  was  transferred  to  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

After  much  prayer  and  waiting,  the  Society  sent 
to  this  point,  in  July,  1885,  its  first  missionary  to  the 
Indians,  Mrs.  F.  T.  Caddis,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  who, 
accompanied  by  her  son,  a  youth  of  fourteen,  entered 
upon  the  work  at  once.  She  was  provided  with  a  small 
house  and  barn  and  a  pony,  and  began  visiting  the  In- 
dians in  their  cabins  and  tepees. 

Of  one  of  these  first  visits  she  tells  us  she  "found 
one  of  the  eleven  chiefs  sitting  in  the  door  of  his  tepee, 
clad  in  a  suit  of  unbleached  cotton,  a  sacque  and  a  sort 
of  overskirt  trimmed  with  red,  and  wearing  a  soft  felt 
hat  adorned  with  a  feather  from  a  goose's  wing."  "No 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  and  no  divine  worship  was 
maintained  bv  either  Indians  or  whites  within  a  radius 


Work  in  the  West  157 

of  forty  miles."  Two  years  later,  September,  1887, 
we  read  of  a  Church  organized  at  Pawnee  with  twenty- 
nine  members,  including  a  number  of  chiefs.  Upon 
this  occasion  all  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  gave 
intelligent  testimonies  in  a  love-feast.  The  bear  dances, 
with  which  the  Indians  were  wont  to  entertain  the 
whites  on  the  Sabbath,  were  discontinued.  Much  of 
this  good  work  had  been  accomplished  by  the  mission- 
ary through  faithful  visitation  of  the  people  in  their 
wretched  tepees,  and  her  gentle  ministration  to  the 
sick,  and  also  by  the  ''foolishness  of  patchwork,"  she 
having  had  her  house  filled  two  afternoons  in  the  week 
with  women  whom  she  taught  to  sevr.  The  garments 
thus  made  were  often  proudly  displayed  in  public  upon 
their  persons  in  incongruous  and  amusing  combina- 
tions. 

One  hundred  Church  menibers  were  reported  at 
this  place,  with  a  pastor  from  the  Indian  Mission,  now 
Oklahoma  Conference,  when  this  station  was  trans- 
ferred to  that  mission.  A  regular  minister  was  sent 
to  them  in  1887,  wdiose  coming  enabled  the  mission- 
ary, Mrs.  Gaddis,  to  give  more  of  her  time  to  visiting 
the  wretched  women  and  children,  and  made  it  prac- 
ticable for  her  to  establish  sewing-classes  and  to  teach 
the  women  how  to  care  for  themselves.  As  a  tribe  they 
are  inclined  to  be  gentle  and  industrious,  and  early 
showed  promise  of  a  permanent  Christian  life. 

In  recent  years  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Indian 


158  Twenty  Years'  History 

Bureau  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  to 
co-operate  with  the  Oklahoma  Conference  in  the  em- 
ployment of  the  workers  at  Pawnee  and  Ponca  and 
Pawhuska.  The  Conference  sends  a  minister,  and  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  makes  a  small 
appropriation  for  the  services  of  his  wife,  with  the 
condition  that  the  minister  shall  not  be  removed  with- 
out the  approval  of  the  Woman's  Board.  This  has 
worked  well  in  most  cases.  At  Pawnee,  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
A.  E.  Murray  have  done  good  service  for  two  years. 
Much  long-suffering-  and  patience  are  required ;  but 
the  Indians,  like  other  races,  are  no  exception  to  the 
power  of  the  gospel  to  subdue  and  redeem.  March 
28  (Easter),  1900,  Mr.  Murray  baptized  a  number  of 
the  school  children  and  took  them  into  the  Church. 

PONCA,  WHITE  KAGIvE;,  OKIvA. 

The  work  at  Ponca,  begun  in  1888  under  the  care 
of  the  Troy  Conference,  with  Miss  Emma  Clark  as 
missionary,  was  similar  in  conditions  and  success. 
Mrs.  Davis  and  Mrs.  Rust  and  Dr.  Rust  visited  this 
mission,  and  also  other  stations  in  Oklahoma,  in  May, 
1889,  and  were  much  impressed.  Standing  Bear,  the 
distinguished  Ponca  chief,  said :  '*I  do  n't  know  much 
about  your  religion,  but" — laying  his  hand  on  his 
heart — "I  feel  T  want  something  here."  How  eloquent 
these  simple  words ! 


Work  in  the  West  159 

In  1890,  Mrs.  McCabe  visited  all  the  Oklahoma 
missions.  Rev.  Mr.  Bundy  and  wife  were  then  at  this 
point,  and  the  mission  in  good  condition,  with  a  Chris- 
tian agent.  As  the  Government  had  a  school  here  of 
tw^o  hundred  pupils,  the  work  of  the  Society  has  been 
evangelistic.  Rev.  A.  J.  Simms  and  wife  are  the  mis- 
sionaries since  1898.  Mrs.  Simms  established  a  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Society  of  more  than  twenty,  and  the 
Sunday-school  had  a  full  supply  of  Methodist  litera- 
ture, forty  Sunday-school  Advocates  being  taken.  In 
1900  the  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  reported:  ''Scores 
of  couples  who  have  been  living  together  illegally  have 
been  married  this  last  year  with  our  beautiful  ritual, 
and  the  burial  service  has  in  many  instances  given 
comfort  to  the  bereaved  and  sorrowing."  Hopeful 
conversions  have  occurred. 

PAWnCSKA,  OKLA. 

At  Pawhuska,  the  seat  of  the  Government  agency 
for  the  Osages,  work  was  also  begun  in  1888,  but  under 
different  conditions.  These  people  are  not  poor. 
Government  holds  their  funds,  and  they  yearly  receive 
a  comfortable  support.  Here  a  school  was  desired, 
and  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  H.  M.  Teller,  at  Wash- 
ington, a  contract  from  the  Indian  Office  was  secured 
providing  for  twenty-five  pupils  at  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  dollars  per  capita  per  year.     In  the  sum- 


i6o  Twenty  Years'  History 

mer  of  1889,  fifty  more  pupils  were  added  to  the 
contract.  A  wide  door  seemed  thus  opened  to  the 
philanthropic  workers.  But  it  was  required  that  the 
Society  should  put  up  and  equip  the  necessary  build- 
ings, and  though  the  funds  came  in  slowly,  yet 
inside  of  two  years  two  commodious  cottages  were 
purchased,  and  a  plain  school  building  was  erected, 
and  excellent  work  was  being  done.  This  was  largely 
through  the  enterprise  of  the  Upper  Iowa  Confer- 
ence, which,  under  the  leadership  of  Mrs.  Charles 
F.  Springer,  contributed  one  thousand  one  hundred 
dollars  to  this  mission,  afterwards  known  as  the 
Adelaide  Springer  Mission.  Although  the  Roman 
Catholics  had  had  here  the  right-of-way  for  nearly 
fifty  years,  and  had  a  large  and  handsome  convent, 
the  Methodist  school  had  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  the  more  intelligent  Indians,  and  did  not  lack  for 
patronage  to  the  extent  of  its  humble  accomodations. 
A  touching  incident  is  related  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  this  Bureau,  who,  when  visiting  in  this  sta- 
tion, in  1890,  was  sent  for  one  evening  by  the  ma- 
tron to  ''come  and  see  the  children  pray."  Steal- 
ing quietly  into  the  dormitory,  she  beheld  about 
fifty  little  ones,  neatly  robed  for  the  night,  bowing 
their  dark  faces  beside  the  white  beds.  After  the 
"Our  Father"  and  "Now  I  lay  me,"  said  in  concert, 
they    remained    kneeling,    silently    praying    for    their 


EARLY    WORKERS. 


1.  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hovt. 

2.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  K.  IMariv. 

3.  Mrs.  C.  V.  Culver. 

4.  Mrs.  W.  a.  Ingham. 

5.  Mrs.  W.  F.  Thorne. 

6.  Mrs.  Richard  Dymond. 


7.  Mrs.  II.  E.  Doun. 

8.  Mrs.  S.  \V.  Thomson. 

9.  Miss  Mary  Belle  Evans. 

10.  Miss  Flora  Mitchell. 

11.  Miss  E.  A.  Mcli  iM(ni,. 

12.  Mrs.    J.   \V.    Ml.NDKMLM.L. 


Work  in  the  West  i6i 

own  loved  ones,  some  of  them  far  away.  A  sight 
surely  to  make  heaven  glad ! 

The  simple  story  of  the  gospel  told  to  the  chil- 
dren reached  the  hearts  of  fathers  and  mothers,  and, 
as  a  consequence,  a  neat  ^lethodist  Church  was 
erected  here  in  1890,  which  was  crowded  every  Sab- 
bath, and  has  since  been  steadily  maintained  as  an 
appointment  of  the  Oklahoma  Conference.  A  large 
Sabbath-school  is  also  an  encouraging  feature  of  this 
work. 

By  the  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1892, 
the  provision  by  which  the  mission  schools  had  been 
allowed  to  receive  Government  aid  was  annulled, 
and  thereafter  the  school  at  Pawhuska  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Indian  Bureau  at  Washington.  The 
former  Superintendent  remained  as  teacher,  and  the 
missionary  gave  undivided  attention  to  direct  mis- 
sionary effort.  Thirty  Osage  girls  were  baptized 
here  at  one  time,  in  May,  1897.  A  school  for  whites 
and  mixed  races,  enrolling  over  fifty  was  maintained 
for  a  time,  but  as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  now  well  established  at  Pawhuska,  and  two  other 
denominations  besides  the  Catholics  have  entered 
there,  the  Board  deemed  it  advisable  to  sell  or  rent 
the  property,  and  adopt  more  needy  work.  A  small 
appropriation  was  continued  on  the  salary  of  the 
missionarv's    wife.       Sixteen    conversions    were    re- 


i62  Twenty  Years'  History 

ported  by  this  couple,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  T.  Cummins, 
for   1900. 

STiCKNEY  home:,  lynden,  wash. 

In  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  of  Washing- 
ton, at  Lynden,  is  situated  the  Stickney  Home,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Nooksachk  Indians.  The  building, 
largely  the  gift  of  Mrs.  M.  E.  Stickney,  formerly 
of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  as  a  memorial  of  her  deceased 
husband,  was  finished  in  1891,  and  was  at  first  opened 
as  a  contract  school,  the  Government  pledging  the 
support  of  thirty  pupils.  Since  1893  beneficiary  aid 
has  been  necessary,  and  the  number  has  varied  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five.  A  school  for  Indians  is  needed 
at  this  point,  as  their  children  are  not  admitted  into 
the  schools  of  the  whites. 

The  Home,  v/ith  its  industrial  training  and  relig- 
ious teaching,  is  a  valuable  object-lesson  to  the  Nook- 
sachks,  who  are  represented  to  be  an  industrious  and 
teachable  people. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  B.  Stark,  with  their  two  daugh- 
ters, composed  the  missionary  force  of  this  Home  for 
many  years.  The  building  is  located  in  a  bend  of  the 
Nooksachk  River,  on  a  tract  of  twenty-five  acres  of 
land,  the  gift  to  the  mission  of  "Lynden  Jim,"  an 
Indian  chief.  That  part  which  is  cleared  is  fertile  and 
productive,  and  affords  remunerative  exercise  to  the 
boys  of  the  Home. 


Work  in  the  West  163 

Mrs.  Dr.  Emily  C.  jMillcr,  missionary  to  the 
Yakimas,  thus  describes  a  visit  to  Stickney  Home  in 
1900: 

''The  island  is  like  a  beautiful  picnic-ground  in 
summer,  and  the  children  are  happy  in  the  freedom 
of  home.  Although  the  oldest  of  the  sixteen  pupils 
is  only  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old,  they  help  a  great 
deal ;  and  as  there  is  a  family  of  nineteen,  with  only 
the  two  Stark  sisters  to  do  the  work  of  the  house, 
make  clothes  for  the  children,  teach  the  school  and 
all  the  industries,  besides  canning  fruit,  etc.,  for  the 
winter,  the  help  of  the  little  ones  is  appreciated. 

"The  boys  help  make  the  garden,  where  they  raise 
enough  vegetables  to  supply  the  Home,  though  one 
year  the  seed  was  washed  out  by  freshets  three  times. 
It  is  estimated  that  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
vegetables  were  raised  last  year.  They  make  enough 
hay  to  keep  three  cows  through  the  winter.  The 
Woman's  Home  Alissionary  Society  owns  one,  Indian 
Chief  Jim  gives  the  use  of  another,  and  ]\Ir.  Stark 
owns  the  third.  The  children  have  all  the  milk  and 
cream  they  want  [Indians  seldom  eat  butter],  and 
plenty  of  plain  food,  well  cooked,  and  served  three 
times  a  day.  They  arc  bright  and  interesting,  affec- 
tionate and  well-behaved.  I  have  never  seen  any  bet- 
ter Indian  children.  ^lorning  and  evening  they  take 
part  in  family  worship,  sing  hymns,  and  recite  Scrip- 
ture, as  though  they  delighted  in  it.  I  was  pleased 
when  Miss  Mollie  detailed  two  girls  to  do  the  chamber 
work,  and  left  them  to  do  as  she  had  directed,  while 


164  Twenty  Years'  History 

she  made  a  big  panful  of  bread-dough.  I  afterward 
went  to  see  how  the  twelve  beds  were  made,  and  found 
that  the  girls  must  have  been  well  trained  previously, 
as  they  had  done  the  work  assigned  well  and  with 
speed.  Another  girl  cleared  up  the  playroom,  while 
others  washed  the  breakfast  dishes,  and  still  others 
pared  potatoes  for  dinner;  all  small  children,  and  yet 
they  were  helpful.  That  afternoon  school  was  kept 
till  nearly  supper-time.  The  children  did  well  in 
arithmetic  and  spelling,  and  also  in  reading  and  writ- 
ing. The  rule  is  two  lessons  per  week  in  sewing, 
though  the  girls  help  all  they  can  with  mending.  Both 
the  young  ladies  who  are  employed  by  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  are  refined  Christian  ladies, 
but  they  do  the  work  of  common  servants  uncom- 
plainingly. Paid  for  nine  months'  work,  both  they  and 
their  father  must  do  much  extra  work  during  vacation, 
as  the  property  must  be  cared  for,  the  garden,  fruit, 
etc.,  as  well,  and  the  house-cleaning  done." 

These  worthy  young  women  were  both  married 
soon  after  this  time,  and  this  necessitated  the  retire- 
ment of  Mr.  Stark  from  the  Superintendency.  Rev. 
Fred  J.  Brown  and  wife  were  appointed  to  the  po- 
sition in  1 90 1. 

Mrs.  h.  H.  Daggett,  prominently  connected  with 
the  early  work  in  Alaska,  felt  a  deep  interest  in  Stick- 
ney  Home,  and  for  many  years  pleaded  most  earnestly 
for  the  maintenance  of  this  mission  among  the  Nook- 
sachk  Indians. 


Work  in  the  West  165 

YAKIMA   MISSION,   FORT  SIMCOE,   WASH. 

Diagonally  across  the  State  to  the  southeast  may 
be  found  the  so-called  Yakima  Mission,  though  the 
missionary  there  asserts  that  other  tribes  and  rem- 
nants of  tribes,  notably  the  Toppenish  people,  largely 
outnumber  the  Yakimas  upon  this  reservation.  The 
Indians  number  seventeen  thousand,  and  the  reserva- 
tion has  an  area  about  equal  to  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island. 

A  treaty  was  ratified  in  1859  between  the  United 
States  Government  and  the  Indians  here,  and  a  Gov- 
ernment school  established.  Rev.  J.  H.  Wilbur,  of 
the  jMethodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  school  in  1861  ;  in  1864  he  was  made  Agent. 
He  preached,  in  the  schoolhouse,  the  first  sermon  ever 
preached  in  this  region.  For  almost  twenty  years  this 
good  man  was  as  a  father  to  the  Indians,  and  he  is 
commonly  known  among  them  as  ''Father  Wilbur"  to 
this  day.  He  taught  them  how  to  build  houses  and 
to  raise  such  crops  as  it  was  possible  to  grow  along 
the  streams.  His  iniluence  still  lingers  among  this 
people,  and  a  few  stalwart  examples  of  Christian  liv- 
ing are  pointed  out  among  the  older  Indians  as  monu- 
ments of  his  godly  zeal.  The  church  built  by  him  in 
1879  still  remains,  and  a  missionary  of  the  Parent 
Board  has  been  continuously  kept  at  Fort  Simcoe,  the 
seat  of  the  agency  and  headquarters  of  the  mission. 


i66  Twenty  Years'  History 

When,  in  1889,  Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester,  in  his  offi- 
cial capacity  as  Government  Superintendent  of  the 
United  States  Indian  Schools,  visited  this  place,  ac- 
companied by  his  wife  as  a  Special  Agent  to  inspect 
the  work  done  for  the  girls,  these  Christian  Indians 
urged  them  to  find  a  woman  missionary  for  the 
reservation.  Mrs.  Dorchester  appealed  to  a  friend, 
Mrs.  Dr.  Emily  C.  Miller,  a  lady  physician  of  Boston, 
who,  finding  herself  providentially  led  in  a  peculiar 
manner,  acknowledged  the  voice  of  God  in  the  call, 
and  in  1891,  April  8th,  arrived  at  Fort  Simcoe,  and 
took  up  her  abode  in  the  little  frame  house  near  the 
parsonage,  which  the  Indians  had  prepared  for  her. 
There  she  devoted  herself  exclusively  to  their  welfare. 
In  two  years'  time  she  had  won  the  confidence  of  all, 
even  the  more  timid  women  and  children,  becoming 
mother,  physician,  and  friend,  industrial  teacher  and 
spiritual  adviser  to  old  and  young. 

In  1898,  at  her  solicitation,  forty  acres  of  the  one 
hundred  and  sixty  allotment  of  Church  lands  was,  by 
vote  of  the  Columbia  River  Conference,  assigned  to 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  Under  her 
wise  management  it  was  fenced,  cleared,  irrigated,  and 
put  under  cultivation,  and  a  four-room  cottage  built, 
the  returns  from  the  ground  paying  for  all  improve- 
ments. This  is  at  Toppenish,  on  the  railroad,  and 
twenty-five  miles  from  Fort  Simcoe.     Here  the  In- 


Work  in  the  West  167 

dians,  with  their  own  hands  and  of  their  own  means, 
had  previously  put  up  a  httle  church  in  which  to  wor- 
ship, and  here  souls  have  been  gathered  into  the  fold. 
Mrs.  Dr.  Miller  has  also  been  efficient  in  assisting  the 
pastor,  Rev.  James  Wilbur  Helm,  conducting  services 
whenever  he  is  absent,  that  the  church  be  not  closed. 

For  four  years  this  work  was  carried  on  under 
the  direction  of  Mrs.  Dorchester;  but  upon  the  death 
of  the  latter  it  was,  in  1895,  transferred  to  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  which  has  in  all  its  fields 
no  more  capable  and  successful  missionary  nor  a  more 
promising  mission. 

Of  her  experience  in  this  work  Dr.  ]\Iiller  has  said : 

"To  go  three  thousand  miles  alone  to  live  among 
Indians,  not  knowing  what  was  to  follow,  was  not  a 
matter  to  be  entered  upon  lightly  ;  but  believing  that 
I  saw  the  Father's  hand  in  it,  I  followed  its  beckoning, 
and  the  dear  Lord  whom  we  all  serve  has  been  pleased 
to  give  great  peace  and  joy  to  the  soul  of  this  lone 
missionary  in  ministering  to  a  people  of  different  lan- 
guage, wdio  have  had  so  little  opportunity,  but  whom 
God  loves  even  as  he  loves  the  most  favored  of  us  all." 

UKIAII,  CAL. 

The  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  President  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  by  which  Churches  were  allowed  to  nominate 
Indian  agents,  was  happily  illustrated  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  Rev.  J.  L.   Burchard  to  the  agency  of  the 


i68  Twenty  Years'  History 

Digger  Indians  at  Round  Valley  and  Upper  Lake, 
Cal.  Though  gentle  and  peaceable,  these  Indians,  in 
the  beginning,  fled  and  hid  themselves  from  the  whites. 
After  some  time  and  much  coaxing,  a  representative 
of  the  tribe  appeared,  his  only  article  of  clothing  being 
a  new  and  shining  "stovepipe  hat."  Evidently  this 
fine  hat  had  exhausted  the  ingenuity  of  the  tribe  as 
a  means  of  commending  itself  to  civilization.  Mr. 
Burchard  became  to  these  poor  people  a  father,  not 
only  in  the  gospel,  but  in  the  guidance  of  their  general 
interests.  When  he  was  unfortunately  removed  by 
political  changes,  the  Indians  did  not  wholly  depart 
from  his  teachings.  When,  in  189 1,  he  was  again  sent 
to  them,  this  time  as  the  missionary  of  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  the  Indians  received  him 
again  as  a  father.  Mr.  Burchard  maintained  a  stren- 
uous varfare  against  liquor-sellers  with  much  success, 
and  also  against  polygamy.  His  circuit  embraced 
about  sixty  miles. 

Rev.  E.  W.  Ewing  succeeded  him  in  October,  1900. 
A  year  later  he  said : 

"On  looking  over  the  field,  I  see  the  results  of  the 
work  of  my  predecessor.  Rev.  J.  L.  Burchard.  In 
co-operation  with  teachers  employed  in  the  Govern- 
ment schools,  he  has  left  a  monument  of  his  zeal  which 
will  endure.  This  mission  should  be  maintained,  be- 
cause it  pays  in  the  conversion  and  civilization  of  this 


Work  in  the  West  169 

people.  The  missionary  must  travel  to  distant  camps, 
be  lawyer,  doctor,  police  officer,  as  well  as  preacher. 
He  is  obli![^cd  to  do  mncli  lliat  does  not  come  within 
the  scope  of  his  prescribed  duties. 

"I  have  traveled,  this  year,  by  stage,  on  horse- 
back, and  in  buggy,  through  cold  and  heat,  a  distance 
of  twenty-two  hundred  miles.  To  do  this  I  have  waded 
streams,  stuck  in  the  mud,  and  gone  hungry  to  bed." 

BUREAU  FOR  INDIANS  OF  NEW  MEXICO  AND 
ARIZONA 

This  Bureau  is  in  charge  of  one  of  the  most  faith- 
ful and  loyal  of  Secretaries,  ]\lrs.  E.  W.  Simpson,  of 
Troy,  N.  Y.  Years  of  familiarity  with  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  has  made  her  wise  in  select- 
ing its  best  methods  of  work. 

APACHES,  DULCE,  N.  M. 

A  Home  and  school  at  Dulce,  N.  M.,  has  been 
doing  excellent  work  for  over  thirteen  years.  Al- 
though this  is  called  the  "Apache"  Mission,  all  classes, 
whites,  Mexicans,  and  Indians,  share  in  its  benefits. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  Indians  had  a  great  fear  that 
the  white  teachers  had  come  to  entice  away  their  chil- 
dren to  Government  schools  ''to  die,"  as  they  believed. 
Finding  this  not  to  be  true,  they  became  friendly  and 
helpful,  and  have  rallied  around  them  with  an  in- 
telligent interest. 


170  Twenty  Years'  History 

From  1887  to  1892  the  missionaries,  Miss  Maria 
Clegg  and  Miss  Sarah  Moore,  lived  in  a  miserable  hut 
of  two  rooms,  so  low  that  it  could  not  be  entered  with- 
out bowing  the  head.  In  1891  eighty  acres  of  land 
were  assigned  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society, 
and  the  urgent  pleadings  of  the  Bureau  Secretary  se- 
cured an  appropriation,  with  which,  in  1892,  such 
additions  and  improvements  were  made  as  rendered 
it  practicable  to  hold  divine  service  at  the  mission. 

In  May,  1892,  Rev.  Thomas  Harwood,  Superin- 
tendent of  Missions,  came  and  organized  a  Church 
class,  and  during  the  winter  following  many  of  the 
children  and  their  parents  were  converted,  the  min- 
ister, who  lived  about  thirty  miles  distant,  coming, 
occasionally,  to  help  the  missionary  ladies,  who,  in 
turn,  went  into  his  field  to  assist  him.  Quarterly- 
meetings  were  held — veritable  feasts  of  ingathering — 
when  both  presiding  elder  and  minister  would  be  with 
them.  In  1894  the  membership  numbered  fifty  whites 
and  Mexicans,  and  fifty  baptized  Indians.  In  1895 
and  1896  a  comfortable  chapel  and  schoolroom  was 
built,  to  which  Miss  Helen  A.  Dodge,  of  Lawrence, 
Mass.,  contributed  largely,  and  great  pressure  began 
to  be  felt  for  enlarged  accommodations  in  the  Home 
and  for  support  for  the  children  who  came  to  be  taught. 
In  1897  fifty  pupils  were  reported  in  the  school,  and 


Work  in  the  West  171 

fifteen  inmates  in  the  Home ;  a  few  only  received 
beneficiary  aid. 

Among-  the  ''assets"  of  the  mission  this  year  we 
find  recorded  a  sewing-machine,  a  set  of  tools,  and  a 
printing-press.  The  close  of  1898  marked  the  most 
successful  year  in  the  history  of  this  work. 

In  1898,  Miss  Clegg  came  East  for  the  first  time 
in  seven  years.  She  brought  with  her  a  promising 
young  Mexican  girl,  Lasaida  Ruybald  (who  afterward 
married  a  young  Mexican  minister),  and  a  little  In- 
dian girl,  Henrietta.  The  Secretary  says :  "I  was 
never  so  impressed  with  the  good  work  being  done 
as  when  I  saw  for  myself  the  results  as  shown  in  these 
girls." 

This  mission  at  Dulce  is  the  central  point  for 
Protestantism  in  all  that  part  of  the  country,  and  some 
remarkable  conversions  have  occurred  of  individuals 
who  have  become  strikingly  useful  in  this  and  other 
communities,  thus  spreading  abroad  the  leaven  of  the 
gospel. 

Both  Miss  Moore  and  Miss  Clegg  were  singularly 
devoted  missionaries.  Miss  Moore  continues  at  Dulce 
as  Superintendent,  with  assistants,  but  Miss  Clegg  has 
been  promoted  to  her  heavenly  inheritance.  After 
months  of  great  suffering,  she  sweetly  fell  asleep, 
November  16,  1900. 


172  Twenty  Years'  History 

NAVAJOES,  JEWDTT,   N.   M. 

In  the  San  Juan  Valley,  N.  M.,  seventy  miles  from 
a  railroad,  two  lone  women,  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Eldridge 
and  Miss  Mary  E.  Raymond,  one  day  in  October, 
1891,  descended  from  the  stage-coach,  and  literally 
pitched  their  tent  in  the  wilderness.  They  had  pre- 
viously had  some  experience  in  Indian  Government 
schools,  and  they  had  come  here  to  bring  the  gospel 
to  the  Navajo  Indians.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
the  work  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
for  this  people.  For  two  years  before  this  time  the 
Church  had  been  thrilled  with  the  stories  of  this  fine, 
intelligent,  independent  tribe  of  twenty  thousand  souls 
with  not  a  single  Protestant  missionary  among  them. 
With  no  knowledge  of  God  or  Christ,  without  a  writ- 
ten language,  and  with  ages  of  heathenism  back  of 
them,  this  people  offered  no  inviting  field  for  niission- 
ary  effort.  They  were  prejudiced  by  the  presence  of 
bad  whites,  by  traditions  of  a  war  which  had  cul- 
minated in  their  defeat  and  removal  froni  their  old 
reservation,  and  by  rumors  of  compulsory  education 
for  their  children.  Slow  and  toilsome  was  the  progress 
of  the  heroic  workers;  but  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts  they  had  set  up  their  banners,  and  they  and 
their  successors  have  nobly  stood  at  their  posts,  drop- 


Work  in  the  West  173 

ping,  dropping,  dropping,  month  after  month,  and  year 
after  year,  the  seed  of  gospel  truth  into  this  black  soil 
of  heathenism. 

They  began  by  visiting  the  sick  in  their  miserable 
hogans,  and  giving  them  medicine,  which  so  won  their 
confidence  that  the  mission  soon  became  a  dispensary. 
Then  the  missionaries  brought  the  women  to  their  own 
house,  teaching  them  to  cook  and  spin  upon  wheels 
brought  from  the  East,  and  assisting  them  in  weaving 
and  in  selling  their  rugs,  the  inimitable  Navajo  blankets 
which  have  made  the  tribe  famous. 

The  Indians  built  them  a  little  house,  and  from 
time  to  time  helped  to  enlarge  it,  the  missionaries 
teaching  them,  as  best  they  could,  the  use  of  tools 
and  how  to  irrigate  the  arid  soil  of  their  reservation, 
which  has  been  described  as  ''six  millions  of  acres  of 
sand."  Rev.  Howard  B.  Antes,  of  Colorado,  who  was 
much  interested  in  the  Navajoes,  visited  the  work  oc- 
casionally, and  rendered  it  substantial  service. 

Among  these  Indians  the  women  of  the  family  own 
all  the  sheep  and  goats.  When  the  father's  property 
is  divided,  this  is  the  daughters'  portion,  so  that  the 
women  are  not  slaves,  as  in  other  tribes.  The  hus- 
band is  really  somewhat  dependent  on  the  wife,  who 
supplies  the  family  with  milk  and.  meat,  and  wool  for 
blankets.      This,    probably,    is    one    reason    for    the 


174  Twenty  Years'  History 

prevalence  of  polygamy,  and  another  is  the  belief  that 
it  is  disreputable  for  a  woman  to  live  alone.  When 
one  is  left  a  widow,  she  very  soon  offers  herself  to 
some  man,  usually  a  younger  one,  as  the  old  men 
are  supplied  with  wives,  and  it  is  not  known  that  they 
are  ever  refused.  Then  the  young  men  take  young 
wives,  visually  more  than  one. 

The  fall  in  the  price  of  wool  about  the  year  1893, 
by  which  their  industries  were  made  less  remunerative, 
reduced  these  people  to  poverty;  almost  to  starvation. 
Then  they  began  in  earnest  to  learn  to  work  their 
lands.  The  missionaries  maintain  that  a  farm  is 
needed  at  the  mission  upon  which  boys  may  be  taught 
practical  agriculture.''' 

May  I,  1898,  was  an  epoch  in  this  mission.  Rev. 
Thomas  Harwood  visited  it,  and  baptized  a  class  of 
interesting  converts.  The  following  year,  1899,  was 
signalized  by  the  erection  of  a  school  building  and 
chapel  combined,  with  dormitories  above.  The  In- 
dians had  so  far  changed  in  their  attitude  towards 
the  missionaries  since  1891,  when  they  declared,  ''We 
want  no  schools,"  that  they  now  begged  for  a  school 
to  be  opened.  Twenty  white  children  were  in  the  day- 
school,  and  thirteen   Navajoes,   the   latter  remaining 


-In  the  summer  of  1902  land  was  secured  and  the  mission  family 
removed  to  a  point  twenty-two  miles  from  Jewett  and  tliree  miles  from 
Farmington. 


Work  in  the  West  175 

with  the  missionaries  all  the  time,  as  the  most  effective 
means  of  civilizing  and  Christianizing  them.  The  In- 
dian pupils  were  found  to  be  bright,  and  to  learn  as 
readily  as  the  whites. 

In  1893,  Mrs.  Eldridge  was  made  Field  Matron  for 
this  people,  under  Government  direction,  still  making 
her  home  at  the  mission,  and  serving  it  more  efficiently 
than  ever.  In  August,  1894,  Miss  Raymond  died,  and 
w^as  succeeded  by  Miss  Mary  Tripp,  who  still  remains 
at  this  isolated  post. 

Such  has  been  the  seed-sowing  in  this  truly  pagan 
soil.  What  of  the  harvest  ?  "First  the  blade,  then  the 
ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  It  follows  in 
the  Divine  order.  Only  a  few  grains,  perhaps,  of  the 
''full  corn,"  but  the  promise  of  a  glad  fruition  by  and 
by.  Why  do  the  reapers  delay  their  coming?  is  the 
message  that  comes  to  the  Christian  Church  from  this 
long-neglected  field,  sent  by  teachers  and  taught  alike. 
Miss  Tripp,  the  faithful  missionary,  writes:  "Strange 
that  souls  on  this  reservation  are  not  as  precious  as 
those  in  foreign  lands !  It  is  God's  will  that  we  go  to 
the  heathen ;  but  is  it  His  will  that  we  neglect  our 
own  heathen  ?" 

Again,  an  old  Indian,  trembling  on  the  verge  of 
the  grave,  turns  upon  the  teacher  his  sad  eyes,  voicing 
the  question  heard  round  the  world  in  heathen  lands, 
"Why  didn't  you  send  us  this  news  before?" 


176  Twenty  Years'  History 

BUREAU  FOR  NEW  MEXICO  AND  ARIZONA,  SPANISH 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  early  en- 
deavored to  enter  this  field.  Mrs.  J.  F.  Willing,  the 
first  Secretary  of  the  Bureau,  visited  the  Territory 
and  investigated  the  conditions,  and  in  1887  arranged 
for  the  opening  of  v^ork  in  Albuquerque. 

Mrs.  Anna  Kent,  of  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  succeeded 
Mrs.  Willing  in  1890  as  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  for 
vSpanish  Work  in  New  Mexico.  In  1891  she  visited 
the  field,  and  again  in  1895,  and  a  third  time  in  1900, 
and  has  continuously  cared  for  the  work  at  great  per- 
sonal expense  of  time  and  money.  Mrs.  Kent  early 
became  interested  in  the  general  work  of  the  Society, 
and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
in  1892  as  a  tribute  to  her  valuable  services,  being  the 
second  person  having  a  residence  outside  of  the  State 
of  Ohio  to  be  elected  a  member  of  that  body.  (jNIrs. 
Goff,  of  Philadelphia,  was  the  first.) 

"The  Bureau  for  Spanish  Work  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,"  during  its  short  existence,  has  been  in  charge 
of  the  capable  and  gifted  Secretary,  Mrs.  A.  M. 
Whitson,  of  Los  Angeles. 

pe:opi.e:  of  new  mexico 
It  brings  one  up  with  a  start  to  be  reminded  that 
the  great  American  Republic  has  had  within  its  bor- 
ders from  the  earliest  times  a  large  tract  of  country 


Work  in  the  West  177 

wholly  given  over  to  the  vSpanish  Mexicans,  and  where 
the  language  of  Spain  is  spoken  by  almost  every  one 
except  Government  officials  and  Protestant  mission- 
aries. This  region  has  had  a  peculiar  history.  Away 
back  in  the  ages  of  an  unknown  past  it  was  inhabited 
by  a  mysterious  race  of  an  advanced  civilization. 
Traces  of  this  vanished  people  are  still  discoverable.  In 
the  decadence  of  their  pow^r  a  new  element  appeared 
upon  the  scene.  Over  the  great  river  from  Mexico 
came  the  Spaniard,  lured  by  rumors  of  wealthy  king- 
doms and  treasures  to  be  had  for  the  taking.  In  the 
w^onderful  cliff-dwellings  of  the  mountains  they 
thought  to  find  rooms  full  of  gold  and  jewels,  such 
as  had  been  the  fatal  possessions  of  the  Montezumas 
and  the  Incas  of  the  Southland.  It  is  not  believed 
that  they  found  wdiat  they  sought ;  and  having  de- 
spoiled the  simple  natives  of  such  as  they  had,  most 
of  the  more  ambitious  pushed  on  over  the  mountains 
and  through  the  caiions  of  the  West,  leaving  the  signs 
of  their  passage  in  the  Spanish  names  which  they 
dropped  here  and  there  on  mountain  and  river,  pueblo 
and  harbor.  The  musical  syllables,  slipping  so  glibly 
froni  the  lips  of  the  brusque  American  of  modern 
times,  Sierra,  San  Jacinto,  Sacramento,  Los  Angeles, 
and  the  like,  come  to  us  as  an  echo  of  that  vanished 
past. 

lUit  from  this  migration  a  considerable  residuum 
13 


/ 


Twenty  Years'  History 


was  left  behind  in  the  country  now  known  as  New 
Mexico,  mingUng  with  the  natives  and  falHng  easily 
into  their  customs.  The  Spanish  people,  nevertheless, 
became  the  dominant  element,  giving,  in  time,  their 
language  and  general  impress  to  the  whole  region. 
This  was  so  long  ago  that  Santa  Fe  is  claimed  to  be 
(with  the  possible  exception  of  that  other  Spanish 
founded  city,  St.  Augustine)  the  oldest  permanent 
settlement  in  the  United  States. 

By  this  mongrel  race,  descended  from  the  Span- 
iards and  the  aborigines,  and  denominated  Mexican- 
Americans,  the  country  is  now  largely  populated. 

Such  a  beginning  partially  explains  present-day 
conditions  and  throws  light  on  the  question,  ''Why 
should  New  Mexico  be  regarded  as  missionary 
ground?"  As  these  people  have  been  dominated 
through  all  their  history  by  the  Romish  priesthood, 
it  goes  without  saying  that  ignorance  and  superstition 
go  hand  in  hand.  When,  in  1846,  the  Territory  was 
annexed  to  the  United  States,  and  General  Kearney 
raised  the  flag  at  Sante  Fe,  but  one  school  existed 
within  the  area  now  embraced  in  New  Mexico. 
Not  until  1872  was  any  school  law  adopted  or  appro- 
priation made.  Since  then  much  of  the  money  set 
apart  for  education  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Jesuits.  Teachers  are  sometimes  employed  who  can 
not  read  or  write.     The  public  schools  teach  little  ex- 


Work  in  the  West  179 

cept  the  devotions  of  the  Church.  Of  the  resuhs  of 
Romish  methods  among  them,  Dr.  Thomas  Harwood, 
who  has  been  identified  with  mission  work  in  that 
Territory  for  thirty  years,  writes :  "In  a  pueblo  of 
one  thousand  souls,  which  has  been  under  Roman 
Catholic  care  for  three  hundred  years,  only  two  young 
men  were  found  able  to  read  and  write." 

The  spiritual  need  of  this  people  has  been  little 
understood  by  the  Church.  Nominally  Catholic,  they 
are  in  reality  pagan.  Dr.  J.  M.  Reid  said  of  them  in 
1889,  "They  are  far  more  needy  and  miserable  than 
the  people  of  old  Mexico." 

HARW^OOD  HOME,  ALBUQUERQUE,   N.    M. 

In  1887,  Mrs.  Annie  Norton  and  ]\Iiss  Ida  Brim- 
mer, under  Airs.  Willing's  direction,  began  work  in 
Albuquerque,  establishing  an  industrial  school  in  a 
rented  house.  Here  they  planned  "to  raise  up  native 
teachers  who  will  repeat  in  the  little  villages  their 
lessons  on  religion  and  the  industries."  Into  their 
classes  came  "mothers,  grandmothers,  and  daughters 
to  learn  English  and  sewing."  In  1890,  Miss  Brimmer 
having  gone  to  Las  Vegas,  Miss  Emma  Ernsberger 
became  Mrs.  Norton's  assistant. 

In  1895  the  Harwood  Home  was  erected  at  a  cost 
of  seven  thousand  dollars,  and  dedicated  March  i, 
1896.     It  is  built  of  brick,  and  situated  between  Old 


i8o  Twenty  Years'  History 

Town  and  New  Town,  and  at  a  distance  of  four  or 
five  blocks  from  the  Methodist  church  for  the  Spanish- 
speaking  Mexicans  in  Old  Town.  A  kindergarten 
is  conducted,  the  domestic  arts  taught,  and  the  students 
are  given  a  liberal  English  course  of  study. 

Coming  to  this  Home  from  their  wretched,  cheer- 
less abodes  (the  Mexican-Americans  are  almost  all 
poor  and  indolent),  the  girls  are  introduced  to  a  new 
Hfe.  Already  young  women  who  have  been  students 
here  are  found  in  many  a  little  Mexican  town  where 
they  are  lighting  beacon-fires  that  show  a  better  way 
of  living.  Their  bright  faces  and  intelligent  activities 
impress  all  who  see  them  with  the  wonderful  results 
of  their  life  at  Harwood  Home. 

In  1 90 1  the  Superintendent  writes : 

''We  have  taken  poor  girls  whose  friends  could 
do  very  little — only  bring  them  to  the  Home  with  the 
most  meager  wardrobe.  We  have  clothed  them 
decently  from  our  supplies,  taught  them  useful  ways, 
led  them  to  Christ.  They  have  gone  back  to  their 
old  homes  so  entirely  changed  as  to  become  objects 
of  interest  among  all  their  people.  Twenty-five  are 
here  this  year  as  pay  pupils.  Creeds  have  been  for- 
gotten by  fathers  who  had  daughters  for  whom  they 
desired  the  best  teaching  they  could  find.  When  warned 
that  the  Bible  was  a  much-used  Book  and  that  the  in- 
stitution was  Protestant  and  Christian,  they  did  not 
hesitate,  but  left  them,  saying,  'Do  all  you  can  for  my 


Work  in  the  West  i8i 

child.'  When  such  a  one  returns  to  her  home  a  bright, 
happy  child  of  God,  knowing  her  sins  are  forgiven 
(as  is  usually  the  case),  the  leaven  of  the  truth  begins 
its  work  in  that  community,  and  souls  are  brought  into 
the  kingdom.  "Harwood  Home  is  truly  a  city  set 
upon  a  hill." 

Sixty-three  girls  crowded  the  fine- large  building 
the  year  of  this  report,  filling  the  hands  of  the  faith- 
ful teachers  with  labor  and  care,  but  making  their 
hearts  glad  with  the  recompense  of  love.  One  of 
these,  Miss  Bartholemew,  writes: 

"Perhaps  there  is  no  time  of  the  day  more  delight- 
ful to  me  than  the  first  period  of  each  school  session  • 
when  we  have  our  Bible  lesson.  This  morning  when 
I  looked  over  the  bright,  eager  faces,  and  saw  how 
those  young  minds  literally  drank  in  my  words,  there 
went  up  from  my  heart  a  song  of  tlianksgiving  for 
the  privilege  of  being  the  teacher  of  these  girls.  After 
all,  the  responsibility  of  it  all  rests  heavily  upon  me, 
for  I  realize  that  they  are  getting  the  gospel  as  /  see 
it,  and  /  stand  to  them  as  an  example  of  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  they  observe  me  as  I  live  its  truths.  O 
how  I  long  to  be  perfectly  true  to  my  trust !" 

A  few  of  these  girls  are  the  daughters  of  Mexican 
Methodist  preachers ;  good  people,  but  very  poor,  and 
without  correct  ideas  of  social  and  home  life,  without 
a  knowledge  of  the  industries,  and  beyond  the  reach 
of  school  privileges.  To  such  liarwood  Home  is  a 
boon. 


iSz  Twenty  Years'  History 

Some  of  the  girls  trained  in  the  Home  have  been 
married  to  young  men  entering  the  ministry,  and  some 
to  Christian  young  men  not  ministers,  and  all  these 
have  formed  homes  of  their  own  which  are  object 
lessons,  to  their  people,  of  neatness  and  thrift. 

In  1 90 1  two  young  women  went  from  the  Home 
as  helpers  to  missionaries  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  one  at  El  Paso,  and  one  at  Las  Vegas. 
These  were  well  qualified  for  their  work.  Knowing 
the  language  and  being  natives,  they  form  a  close  link 
between  the  missionaries  and  the  people. 

Miss  Ellsworth  Apperson  succeeded  Mrs.  Norton 
in  1895  as  Superintendent  at  Harwood  Home,  with 
Miss  Annita  Rodriguez  as  assistant.  Upon  Miss 
Rodriguez's  marriage  in  1898,  Miss  Emma  Barthol- 
emew,  of  Sunbury,  Pa.,  was  called  to  share  with  Miss 
Apperson  the  responsibilities  of  the  Home.  In  1901 
an  industrial  teacher,  Miss  Edith  Nichols,  was  added. 

In  this  land  of  perpetual  sunshine  the  climate  is 
enervating,  and  the  high  latitude,  five  to  six  thousand 
feet,  makes  the  strenuous  life  of  the  missionary  ex- 
hausting. All  honor  is  due  to  these  noble  women  who 
labor  on  here  year  after  year,  sometimes  remaining 
through  the  summer  even,  to  keep  the  Home  open. 
They  have  their  reward  when  they  see  uncouth,  super- 
stitious, almost  uncivilized,  children  transformed  into 
sweet-spirited,    intelligent    Christian    young    women. 


Work  in  the  West  183 

**If  we  can  keep  them  two,  three,  and  even  four  years," 
says  one,  "then  we  can  see  with  our  own  eyes  of  the 
fruit  of  our  labor." 

Albuquerque  is  a  growing  city,  and  of  special  in- 
terest to  Methodists,  because,  by  common  consent  of 
other  denominations,  this  Church  has  the  right  of  way. 
In  1890,  Bishop  Mallalieu,  urging  an  advance,  said, 
"It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  you  possess  this 
field  for  Protestantism."  And  another  said:  "It  is  a 
profitable  field,  but  of  a  kind  that  ripens  slowly.  The 
work  will  grow  in  dignity  and  importance  when  the 
people  know  it  better." 

AT  LAS  VEGAS 

In  September,  1888,  Miss  Ida  Brimmer  opened  a 
mission  school  here  for  Mexican  children.  The  work  was 
initiative,  and  before  results  could  be  seen  her  health 
failed,  and  she  left  in  June,  1889.  ]\Iiss  Nellie  Snider 
took  her  place,  and  at  once  twenty-five  pupils  were 
enrolled.  In  June,  1890,  Miss  ]\Iary  Tripp  was  sent  to 
help  ]\Iiss  Snider.  The  following  year  Miss  Tripp  was 
transferred  to  the  Navajo  Mission.  "The  school  at 
Las  Vegas  was  in  a  rented  dwelling-house;  the  large 
kitchen  furnished  a  comfortable  schoolroom,  where 
pupils  of  all  ages,  from  the  grandmother  down,  met 
together.  The  teaching  of  a  necessity  had  to  be 
adopted    to    the    slow-thinking    minds    of   the    pupils. 


184  Twenty  Years'  History 

They  came  early,  and  remained  until  sent  home ;  were 
never  in  a  hurry  to  go.  Daily  sewing-classes  were 
well  attended.  Leaf  Cluster  pictures  were  used  in  the 
lessons,  and  were  given  to  the  pupils  as  rewards,  and 
later  were  displayed  as  decorations  in  their  homes. 

In  1895  the  Church  Missionary  Society  secured  a 
building  for  a  Methodist  church,  and  in  it  accommo- 
dations for  Miss  Snider's  school.  The  work  seemed 
to  take  a  fresh  start.  ''Weekly  temperance  lessons, 
vSunday-school,  and  young  people's  meetings,  and 
visitation  among  the  parents  of  the  pupils  kept  the 
missionary  busy." 

In  1900  a  change  was  made  in  the  work.  A  little 
cottage  of  four  rooms  was  rented  and  two  ladies  added 
to  the  force.  Miss  Snider  continued  her  special  work 
among  the  Mexicans  and  kindergarten  work.  Miss 
Pearce  aided  her  with  the  large  ungraded  classes,  and 
Mrs.  F.  A.  Hathaway  acted  as  a  missionary  visitor  to 
minister  to  the  strangers  who  come  from  everywhere 
to  seek  relief  in  this  ''health-giving  climate,"  and  who 
are  often  to  be  found  in  most  distressing  circum- 
stances, far  from  home  and  friends.  Eternity  alone 
will  tell  the  results^of  these  ministrations.  In  the  fall 
of  1 90 1,  after  a  continuous  service  of  twelve  years. 
Miss  Snider  was  relieved  for  a  year  of  rest,  and  Miss 
Cora  Buschman,  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  work  at  Las  Vegas,  with  a  Mexican  girl  from 


Work  in  the  West  185 

Harwood   Home   as   her   assistant.     They   conduct   a 
kindergarten  and  do  "outside  missionary  work." 

LAS   CRUCOS  AND  ElL  PASO 

From  1893  to  1898,  Miss  Margaret  J.  Tripp  labored 
at  Las  Cruces  with  faithfuhiess  and  zeal,  bringing 
some  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  being  a  great 
help  to  the  missionary  who  was  stationed  there  among 
the  Mexicans  under  the  auspices  of  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Society.  In  September,  1898,  she  opened  work 
at  El  Paso,  Tex.  Here  she  had  a  large  and  interesting 
school  in  connection  with  the  church,  did  much  per- 
sonal visiting  among  the  people,  and  established  an 
Epworth  League  and  a  Sabbath-school.  Mrs.  Arm- 
strong, formerly  Miss  Ida  Brimmer,  was  a  loyal 
helper  here. 

In  November,  1900,  Miss  Tripp  left  El  Paso,  Tex., 
for  work  in  Southern  California,  and  in  the  winter 
of  1 90 1,  Miss  E.  O.  Newnom,  of  Delaware,  took 
charge  at  El  Paso,  having  as  her  assistant  a  Mexican 
girl  from  Harwood  Home. 

SPANISH   WORK,  SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA 

Fifty  thousand  Spanish-Americans  are  said  to  live 
in  California.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has 
been  slow  to  provide  for  their  spiritual  needs.  In  1898 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary   Society  appropriated 


i86  Twenty  Years'  History 

four  hundred  dollars  for  work  among  girls  and  women 
of  this  class.  In  1899  a  like  amount  was  promised, 
and  in  1900  the  appropriation  was  increased  to  thir- 
teen hundred  dollars.  At  the  end  of  this  period 
two  prosperous  missions  had  been  organized  and 
passed  over  to  the  care  of  the  Parent  Board,  and  an 
Industrial  Home  and  school  had  been  started  in  Los 
Angeles.  Mrs.  F.  M.  DePauw  generously  provided 
a  house  for  the  Home,  the  Southern  California  Con- 
ference furnished  it,  and  the  General  Board  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  guaranteed  its 
support.  Miss  Margaret  J.  Tripp  was  appointed 
Superintendent  of  the  Home,  and  Miss  Jennie  Mathias 
teacher.  Twenty-one  girls  were  in  the  Home  the  first 
year. 

Y  BUREAU  FOR  ALASKA 

In  January,  1886,  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  appointed  Mrs. 
Lydia  H.  Daggett  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  for  Alaska, 
which  had  been  formed  at  the  preceding  Annual  Meet- 
ing. From  that  time  until  her  retirement,  in  1892, 
she  gave  herself  with  a  passionate  devotion  to  work 
for  the  redemption  of  these  neglected  heathen  in  that 
far-ofif  corner  of  the  home  land.  ''Her  piety  was  of 
that  uncompromising  sort  that  made  her  indifferent 
to  all  the  changing  fashions  in  dress,  and  her  tall, 
well-poised  figure,  with  the  strong  face  set  in  a  plain 


Work  in  the  West  187 

'Methodist  bonnet,'  might  well  be  taken  as  a  type  of 
the  unbending  righteousness  of  her  character."  She 
was,  for  eleven  years  previous  to  her  association  with 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  the  publisher 
of  the  Heathen  IVoinan's  Friend,  the  organ  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  After  a  linger- 
ing illness,  she  died  in  great  peace  at  the  home  of  her 
son  in  Wyoming,  October  2,  1901. 

Mrs.  H.  M.  Teller  acted  as  Secretary  of  the  Bureau 
in  1893,  and  was  succeeded  in  1894  by  Mrs.  S.  L. 
Beiler,  who  has  won  the  encomiums  of  the  whole 
Church  by  the  able  manner  in  which  she  has  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  the  office.  She  has  borne  the 
scars  of  service,  having  contracted  a  severe  illness  due 
to  the  exposures  of  her  long  and  arduous  journeying 
in  Alaska,  from  the  effects  of  which  she  has  never  re- 
covered. 

JESSE   LEE    HOME,    UNALASKA,    ALASKA 

In  1867  the  Russian  possessions  in  North  America 
w^ere  bought  by  the  United  States  Government  for 
seven  million  two  hundred  thousand,  dollars.  W^ith 
this  purchase  there  came  under  our  flag,  not  only  five 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  square  miles  of  ice  and 
snow  and  mountain  and  forest,  with  their  unknown 
and  unsuspected  material  wealth,  but  a  population  of 
some  twenty-nine  thousand  souls  in  conditions  of  de- 


1 88  Twenty  Years'  History 

vclopment  varying  from  the  wild  tribes  of  the  interior 
and  the  barbarous  Esquimaux,  Tinneh,  ThHnget, 
Hydah,  and  Chilkat  peoples,  to  the  semi-civilized  in- 
habitants of  the  southern  coast  and  its  outlying  islands. 
Representing  the  highest  stages  of  advancement  as 
found  in  these  more  favored  sections  were  the  priests 
of  the  Russian  (Greek)  Church  and  those  natives  di- 
rectly controlled  by  them.  What  the  moral  status  of 
this  Church  influence  was  and  continues  to  be  may  be 
learned  by  even  the  most  casual  observation  of  the 
social  conditions  prevailing  in  those  ports  where  it  has 
had  the  best  opportunity  to  demonstrate  that  influence. 
That  the  bulk  of  the  population  of  Alaska  might 
be  classed  as  heathen,  and  some  tribes  of  a  very  low 
grade  at  that;  that  witchcraft,  fetichism,  polygamy, 
and  infanticide  were  common,  and  even  human  sacri- 
fices and  cannibalism  were  known  to  be  practiced,  has 
been  established  by  the  painstaking  reports  of  Govern- 
ment surveying  parties,  of  the  Educational  Bureau,  and 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  various  Churches.  And  yet 
ten  years  were  allowed  to  pass  after  the  Russian  eagle 
gave  place  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  1867,  before  the 
first  missionary  from  the  States  set  foot  in  the  Terri- 
tory. Then  the  Presbyterian  Church,  that  great  home 
missionary  organization  which  has  planted  its  stations 
like  a  continuous  wall  of  defense  all  along  our  Western 
frontier,  made  an  entrance,  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  lead- 


Work  in  the  West  189 

ing  the  little  vanguard  by  opening  at  Fort  Wrangell, 
August,  1877,  "the  first  American  mission  station." 
By  a  fraternal  agreement  between  the  various  Mission 
Boards  \vliich  Dr.  Jackson  was  instrumental  in  secur- 
ing, the  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  to  be 
confined  to  the  southeastern,  or  Sitka,  region,  the  Bap- 
tist to  Kadiak,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  to  the  valley 
of  the  Yukon,  the  Moravians  to  the  Kuskokwim  River 
region,  and  the  Aleutian  Division  was  assigned  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  This  was  accepted  by 
Dr.  John  M.  Reid,  Alissionary  Secretary,  acting  in 
behalf  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
'*Unalaska  was  selected  as  the  center  of  their  Church 
operations  in  Alaska  on  January  20,  1883." 

General  Clinton  B.  Fisk  was  Chairman  of  the  first 
Committee  for  Methodist  work  in  the  Territory. 

What  Christian  missions  have  done  for  Alaska  in 
these  twenty  years  may  be  forcibly  summarized  by 
quoting  the  words  of  an  experienced  traveler  and  able 
lecturer.  Dr.  T.  M.  Johnson,  of  St.  Louis: 

"It  is  a  good  thing  to  go  to  Alaska,  if  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  be  taught  an  object-lesson  in  mis- 
sions, to  observe  with  one's  owai  eyes  the  transforma- 
tion wrought  in  the  Alaskan  Indian  by  the  power  of 
the  gospel.  Where  the  missionary  has  not  been  he  is 
filthy,  depraved,  brutal,  dehumanized.  Where  the  mis- 
sionary has  been,  holding  up  the  cross  of  Christ,  he 
is  cleanly,  cultured,  Christlike." 


190  Twenty  Years'  History 

At  the  fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  held  in  Philadelphia,  1885, 
almost  in  the  infancy  of  the  organization,  the  ladies, 
looking  upon  the  indications  as  providential,  ventured 
to  create  a  "Bureau  for  Alaska."  Mission  work  in 
this  field,  because  of  its  remoteness  and  the  difficulty 
of  transporting  supplies,  must  be  correspondingly  ex- 
pensive; therefore  the  most  feasible  plan  was  that 
obtaining  in  the  Indian  work,  viz.,  the  system  of  con- 
tract schools. 

The  first  grant  from  the  Government  for  educa- 
tion in  Alaska,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  was  made 
m  1884.  In  1885  there  was  no  appropriation.  For 
J  886  and  1887  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  for  the 
year  following  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  again.  In 
April,  1885,  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  was  appointed  Com- 
missioner of  Education  for  Alaska.  This  Christian 
gentleman  who  had  for  over  ten  years  been  deeply 
interested  in  the  w^elfare  of  the  people  of  this  newly- 
acquired  territory,  very  wisely  sought  to  locate  schools 
where  the  establishment  of  mission  stations  might 
make  it  possible  to  combine  intellectual  development 
with  moral  and  industrial  training.  In  February, 
1886,  he  wrote  the  Secretary  of  the  Alaskan  Bureau, 
Mrs.  Daggett:  "If  you  will  find  a  Methodist  man 
(married)  who  will  go  to  Unalaska,  I  will  have  him 
appointed  teacher  of  the  Government  school." 


Work  in  the  West  191 

This  place  is  the  commercial  center  and  most  im- 
portant settlement  in  Western  Alaska,  the  natural  out- 
fitting station  for  all  vessels  passing  between  the  Pacific 
and  Arctic  Oceans.  The  Parent  Board  had  not  yet 
thought  best  to  enter  this  field,  but  the  opening  seemed 
to  the  women  too  good  to  be  lost.  Energetic  meas- 
ures w^ere  at  once  adopted  to  arouse  interest  and  secure 
funds.  Some  progress  w-as  made  in  this  direction, 
some  gifts  were  received  and  others  assured  when  the 
work  should  assume  tangible  shape ;  but,  owing  to  the 
distance  and  the  difficulties  preventing  personal  over- 
sight, the  development  of  the  work  into  a  mission  was 
painfully  retarded. 

In  the  summer  of  1889,  ]Mr.  John  A.  Tuck  and 
wife  were  sent  out  by  the  Government  to  establish  a 
school  at  Unalaska,  wdiere  they  remained  for  seven 
years,  laboring  under  great  trials  and  discouragements, 
but  devoting  themselves  in  many  ways  to  the  moral 
uplift  of  the  people.  During  these  first  years  two  thou- 
sand dollars  were  appropriated  annually  by  the  Bureau 
of  Education  to  the  expenses  of  this  school,  the  So- 
ciety supplementing  the  support  by  donating  from  the 
''Alaska  Fund"  amounts  varying  from  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  to  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 
per  annum. 

The  beginning  of  a  Home  w^as  thrust  upon  the 
teachers  by  the  bringing  of  two  orphan  girls,  waifs. 


192  Twenty  Years'  History 

from  the  island  of  Attoo,  one  thousand  miles  west 
of  Unalaska.  Others,  finding  that  two  had  been  re- 
ceived, came,  and  refused  to  be  driven  away.  Then 
the  United  States  Treasury  Agent  of  the  Seal  Islands, 
September,  1890,  sent  down  six  girls  by  Captain 
Healey,  of  the  United  States  revenue  cutter  Bear,  and 
soon  after  four  more  were  added  in  the  same  way. 
Thus  the  little  house,  a  story  and  a  half  cottage,  half 
of  which  was  used  as  a  schoolroom,  was  soon  filled 
to  its  utmost  capacity.  A  small  addition  to  this  build- 
ing was  made  in  the  summer  of  1891  by  the  Woman's 
Home  ]\.Iissionary  Society.  In  1892  twenty-six  girls 
enjoyed  the  privileges  of  this  Home. 

Of  this  little  mission  at  this  period  a  traveler  wrote  : 
''It  is  a  Church  in  itself.  Wherever  w^e  go  in  Western 
Alaska  we  hear  of  it.  Its  influence  is  felt  in  the  ex- 
treme northwest."  And  another :  ''For  one  thousand 
miles  it  is  the  only  moral  lighthouse,  the  only  place  of 
Protestant  worship." 

Meanwhile,  in  the  States  efforts  were  being  made 
to  provide  a  larger  building.  Dr.  Jackson,  always  the 
friend  of  this  mission,  advised  that  it  should  be  made 
to  accommodate  not  less  than  sixty  inmates.  Plans 
were  drawn,  contracts  awarded,  and  even  transporta- 
tion for  material  engaged ;  nevertheless,  year  after  year 
hopes  were  unfulfilled  and  plans  frustrated.  Then,  in 
1892,  came  the  General  Conference  action  prohibiting 


Work  in  the  West  193 

any  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  organization  from  re- 
ceiving Government  aid.  To  this  was  added  an  incor- 
rect but  influential  report  that  the  Aleutian  Islands  were 
not  worth  missionary  effort,  being  ''only  bare,  infertile 
rocks  without  future  promise,  and  almost  no  inhabit- 
ants," and  for  a  time  the  very  existence  of  the  mission 
was  threatened.  That  was  a  season  of  sadness  for  the 
friends  of  the  struggling  Jesse  Lee  Home.  Should 
the  girls  who  a  few  years  ago  had  been  ''rescued  from 
holes  in  the  ground,"  from  neglect  and  starvation,  or 
a  slavery  worse  than  death,  and  who  had  begun  to 
develop  beautiful  Christian  characters,  be  turned  out 
again  to  become  the  victims  of  the  "human  vultures 
waiting  to  destroy  them?"  Should  the  holy  aim  of 
these  devoted  teachers,  the  establishment  of  Christian 
homes  in  this  land  by  means  of  these  girls,  be  aban- 
doned? In  this  time  of  perplexity  devout  souls  looked 
unto  the  Lord,  and  he  hearkened  and  heard,  and  the 
little  taper  which  had  been  lighted  amid  the  spiritual 
darkness  of  the  Far  Northwest  was,  by  God's  grace, 
kept  steadily  burning. 

The  work  was  shifted  to  a  new  basis.  No  appro- 
priation could  be  made  by  the  Board  in  1892,  and,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  all  building  operations  had  been 
arrested.  "But,"  says  Mrs.  Rust  in  the  report  of  1893, 
"a  sufficient  amount  of  supplies  had  been  sent  in  the 
fall  of  the  previous  year  to  last  the  family  which  had 


194  Twenty  Years'  History 

been  under  the  care  of  the  Society  until  July,"  1893, 
and  the  Government  appropriation  to  the  school  con- 
tinued, so  that  the  friends  of  the  cause  were  relieved 
of  immediate  anxiety.  Most  opportunely,  about  this 
time,  Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley,  editor  of  the  Christian  Advo- 
cate, made  a  trip  to  Alaska.  He  was  requested  to  in- 
vestigate this  special  field  in  Alaska  as  to  its  importance 
and  future  value.  He  reported  Unalaska,  which  had 
been  selected  for  the  operations  of  the  Church,  as  a 
promising  mission  field.  He  emphasized  its  present 
conditions  and  future  prospects  as  coinciding  with  Dr. 
Reid's  views  and  those  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  Following  this,  the  ladies  again  laid 
their  plea  before  the  General  Missionary  Committee, 
November,  1893,  and  were  assured  of  the  ''sympathy 
and  moral  support"  of  that  body,  and  all  objection 
was  hereafter  withdrawn  to  the  further  prosecution 
of  the  work  so  heroically  begun  by  Mrs.  Daggett.  An 
appropriation  was  made  by  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  for  beneficiary  aid  to  care  for  the 
children  already  in  the  Home. 

The  Bureau  of  Education  now  proposed  to  erect 
a  large  building  apart  from  the  mission,  and  the  So- 
ciety, believing  it  held  a  grant  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  from  the  Government  (this  was 
never  confirmed,  but  in  1896  a  clear  title  to  twenty 
acres  was  secured),  began  to  plan  again  for  a  suitable 


Work  in  the  West  195 

house  in  which  to  shelter  the  growing  family.  This 
was  pushed  forward  to  the  limit  of  the  appropriation, 
and  September,  1895,  it  stood  ''seventy-two  feet  by 
thirty-six,  two  stories  and  a  half  high,  and  solidly 
built,"  it  was  thought.  The  news  was  brought  back  in 
the  fall  by  the  last  returning  steamer. 

But  disaster  again  lay  in  wait  for  the  struggling 
enterprise.  Eight  months  later  the  Secretary  of  the 
Bureau  received  the  discouraging  report  that  the  car- 
penters had  barely  put  out  to  sea,  in  October,  when 
a  great  storm  had  rendered  the  building  unsafe,  and 
it  had  stood  useless  the  long  winter  through.  The 
Government  schoolhouse  was  in  even  a  worse  con- 
dition. 

In  April,  1897,  by  order  of  the  General  Board  of 
Trustees,  Mrs.  S.  L.  Beiler,  Secretary  of  the  Bureau, 
visited  and  inspected  the  work  in  Alaska.  After  six 
months,  part  of  which  time,  she  tells  us,  she  literally 
''dwelt  in  the  tents  of  wickedness,"  she  came  back  with 
increased  enthusiasm  for  work  for  the  redemption  of 
that  great  land.  Under  her  supervision  the  building 
had  been  completed,  and  at  last  the  mission  was  com- 
fortably housed,  with  a  beautiful  flag,  Mrs.  Fisk's 
gift,  floating  over  it,  and  not  a  dollar  of  indebtedness 
upon  it.  The  chapel  bears  the  name  of  "Eliza  Jane 
Baker,"  being  a  memorial  to  the  wife  of  Dr.  Sheridan 
Baker,   of  East   Ohio   Conference,   who   gave  to   the 


196  Twenty  Years'  History 

Home  one  thousand  dollars.  Six  girls  from  the  Jesse 
Lee  Home  were,  at  the  time  of  Mrs.  Beiler's  return, 
sent  to  the  Indian  Training-school  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  to 
be  fitted  for  greater  usefulness  among  their  people ; 
six  others  came  a  year  later,  and  four  more  in  1901. 
They  are  all  said  to  reflect  great  credit  upon  their 
previous  training. 

In  1895,  Miss  Agnes  L.  Sowle  was  sent  as  Matron 
and  Superintendent  of  the  Home,  the  first  missionary 
in  the  bona  Ude  employ  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  At  the  same  time  Miss  Elizabeth 
Mellor  went  to  take  Mr.  Tuck's  place  as  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Government  school,  with  Miss  Sarah  J. 
Rinch  as  Miss  Sowle's  assistant,  and,  in  1897,  Miss 
Ida  Mellor  superseded  Miss  Salmatoff  in  the  school 
work.  The  teachers  of  the  Government  school  boarded 
in  the  Home,  and,  being  imbued  with  true  missionary 
spirit,  have  rendered  invaluable  assistance  in  religious 
work.  The  later  increase  in  numbers  has  led  to  a 
separation  of  the  staff  of  school  workers  from  those 
in  the  Home,  but  they  continue  to  be  helpful. 

In  July,  1898,  Miss  Sowle  was  married  to  Dr. 
Albert  Newhall,  a  Christian  physician  and  local 
preacher,  who  was  made  principal  of  the  Government 
school,  succeeding  Miss  Mellor,  who  resigned  after 
three  years  of  excellent  work,  Mrs.  Newhall  continuing 
in  charge  of  the  Home.     The  next  year  Dr.  Newhall 


Work  in  the  West  197 

gave  all  his  time  to  mission  work.  The  Bureau  Sec- 
retary says  :  "Too  much  praise  can  not  be  given  to  him ; 
he  is  such  stuff  as  heroes  are  made  of."  Mrs.  New- 
hall's  health  having  broken  from  overwork,  they  re- 
turned to  the  States  in  the  summer  of  1901,  expecting 
to  return  after  a  year  of  rest.  The  workers  who  had 
taken  their  places  were  Miss  Ella  Darling,  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Schwab,  and  ^liss  Harriett  Barnett.  One  of  these 
writes :  "I  feel  that  I  am  in  a  truly  foreign  field,  and 
I  believe  it  is  God's  work." 

The  most  pressing  need  of  this  Alaskan  work,  at 
the  dawning  of  the  twentieth  century,  has  seemed  to 
be  the  erection  of  a  hospital  at  Unalaska.  Great  suf- 
fering has  resulted  in  all  the  history  of  the  mission 
from  the  lack  of  medical  attendance  and  surgical  treat- 
ment. The  regime  of  Dr.  Newhall  has  demonstrated, 
by  his  usefulness,  the  iniperative  need  of  such  help. 
The  discovery,  in  1899,  of  deposits  of  gold  of  unsus- 
pected extent  and  richness,  brought  thousands  of 
miners  and  prospectors  into  the  Territory,  and  as  the 
lines  of  travel  into  the  Cape  Nome  and  Yukon  gold 
fields  pass  through  the  strait  at  Unalaska,  many  sick 
and  helpless  white  people  are  stranded  there.  At  times 
the  Jesse  Lee  Home  has  been  of  necessity  turned  into 
a  hospital,  and  that  without  any  adequate  means  of 
relief.  For  four  years  Mrs.  Bciler  has  kept  this  need 
before  the  Society  and  the  public,  and  in  1901  it  was 


198  Twenty  Years'  History 

decided  to  proceed  with  the  building  of  a  cottage  hos- 
pital, additions  to  the  same  to  be  made  as  funds  are 
secured.  From  her  observation  in  the  field  and  her 
consultations  with  the  returned  teachers,  she  is  led  to 
believe  that  those  who  are  treated  here  will  go  out  to 
be  torch-bearers  for  the  truth. 

Some  of  those  taught  in  the  Jesse  Lee  Home  have 
died.  They  have  given  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart 
and  a  hope  of  heaven.  Says  Mrs.  Beiler:  "They  die 
well.    It  does  pay." 

The  Bureau  for  Alaska  also  maintains  a  maternal 
oversight  upon  the  work  at  Unga,  nine  hundred  miles 
north  of  Unalaska.  Here  Dr.  Jackson  had  a  school 
opened,  October,  1886,  with  Rev.  John  H.  Carr,  a 
Methodist  minister,  in  charge.  Mrs.  Carr  soon  suc- 
cumbed to  the  discomforts  and  privations  of  the  climate, 
dying  in  1887.  A  small  house  erected  here  as  a  me- 
morial of  her,  called  the  "Martha  Ellen  Stevens  Cot- 
tage," is  the  property  of  the  Society,  and  occupied  by 
the  Government  teacher  and  his  family. 

Bishop  McCabe  has  added  his  voice  to  the  pleadings 
of  the  Bureau  Secretary  for  an  extension  of  the  work 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  to  other 
points  in  the  Territory.  At  Chilkat  and  Kluckwan 
wide  doors  are  opened  awaiting  its  entrance,  with 
promise  of  even  better  success  than  has  been  attained 
at  Unalaska. 


Work  in  the  West  199 

The  opposition  of  the  Russian  (Greek)  Church  to 
the  operations  of  any  other  denomination  in  Alaska 
is  pccuHar  and  bitter,  and  renders  the  task  of  the  mis- 
sionary both  ikVi  ate  and  difficult.  Sixty  thousand 
dollars  annually  is  sent  from  Russia  for  the  support 
of  its  corrupt  priesthood,  and  its  hold  upon  the  na- 
tives is  absolute.  Even  the  more  intelligent  among 
the  Alaskans  are  more  loyal  to  the  foreign  Church 
than  to  the  United  States  Government.  To  the  pub- 
lic schools  and  the  missionary  societies  we  must  look 
for  the  only  influence  that  can  break  this  thraldom, 
and  in  time  elevate  the  people  into  good  citizenship. 

In  this  sketch  we  have  given  only  a  glimpse  of 
the  material  conditions  and  vicissitudes  of  the  work 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  in  Alaska. 
The  story  of  the  patient,  plodding,  persistent  labors 
of  these  teachers  year  after  year,  of  children  plucked 
from  the  depths,  of  intellects  quickened  from  dull- 
ness and  stupidity,  of  souls  awakened,  of  women 
brought  to  an  apprehension  of  the  meaning  of  virtue 
and  chastity,  of  seafarers  befriended  and  sick  cared 
for,  of  the  songs  and  prayers  and  admonitions  which 
have  made  Jesse  Lee  Home  a  "house  of  hope"  to 
multitudes, — these  are  not  for  mortal  tongue  or  pen 
to  tell;  they  will  be  found  inscribed  on  the  scroll  of 
eternity. 


200  Twenty  Years'  History 

BUREAU  FOR  ORIENTALS 

In  1893,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  at  Toledo,  O., 
the  door  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  opened  to 
admit  a  sister  orjjanization,  ''The  Woman's  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Pacific  Coast,"  and  with  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Oriental  Bureau  "for  the  supervision  of 
work  among  Asiatic  people  in  the  United  States"  a 
new  department  was  added  to  the  many  already  claim- 
ing the  attention  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society.  Mrs.  L.  P.  Williams,  of  San  Francisco,  who 
had  come  from  the  Golden  Gate  to  this  Annual  Meet- 
ing bearing  the  official  proffer  of  union,  went  back 
accredited  as  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Oriental  Bu- 
reau, a  position  she  has  filled  with  great  devotion 
up  to  the  present  time. 

That  this  work  was  not  at  the  time  of  its  adop- 
tion an  experiment  even  a  casual  study  of  its  previous 
history  will  prove. 

Early  in  the  sixties  the  need  began  to  be  felt 
among  Christian  people  for  some  organized  effort  to 
reach  the  Chinese  who  were  creating  a  heathen  so- 
ciety, with  its  joss  houses,  opium  dens,  and  slave 
girls,  in  more  than  one  city  of  the  United  States. 
As  the  largest  number  of  these  people  have  settled 


Work  in  the  West  201 

on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  as  no  city  in  America  con- 
tains so  many  as  San  Francisco,  the  principal  work 
of  evangeUzing-  them  must  be  wrought  out  there. 

In  June,  1863,  Bishop  Edward  Thomson  appointed 
Rev.  Otis  Gibson,  D.  D.,  who  had  previously  served 
ten  years  in  the  Foo  Chow  Mission,  China,  as  mis- 
sionary to  the  Chinese  in  California.  \\'ith  never- 
tlinching  faithfulness  this  good  man  discharged  this 
trust,  until  in  1885  his  health  failed,  and  in  1889  ^"'c 
passed  to  his  reward.  So  zealously  was  he  identified 
with  the  interests  of  this  people  that  the  word  "Geeb- 
son,"  trembling  upon  the  halting  tongue  of  some  op- 
pressed and  hunted  victim  of  Chinatowm,  has  often 
been  used  to  the  police  as  a  password  to  liberty.  He 
was  succeeded  in  1885,  ^s  Superintendent  of  this  mis- 
sion, by  Dr.  F.  J.  Masters,  who  died  January  3,  1900. 
Of  the  latter  it  has  been  said :  "He  was  missionary 
to  tw^o  hemispheres ;"  ''hundreds  of  converts,  won  to 
Christ  through  his  instrumentality  and  through  the 
labors  of  his  assistants  on  the  Pacific  slope,  have  re- 
turned to  their  own  land,  and  there  have  become 
evangelists.  Many  letters  from  them  have  gladdened 
the  workers  in  San  Francisco  with  the  assurance  that 
the  seed  thus  planted  in  Chinese  soil  was  bringing 
forth  abundant  fruit." 

In  1870  a  fine  Chinese  Alission  House  was  erected 


202  Twenty  Years'  History 

at  916  Washington  Street,  San  Francisco,  and  this 
also  was  made  headquarters  for  the  woman's  work, 
which  developed  speedily. 

It  was  in  this  year,  1870,  that  the  Methodist  women 
of  that  city  banded  themselves  together  for  service  in 
the  cause  of  their  Mongolian  sisters.  ''Almost  be- 
fore we  were  aware  of  it,"  says  one,  "there  were  three 
thousand  Chinese  women  in  San  Francisco,  and  three 
thousand  more  scattered  over  this  Western  Coast." 
More  than  half  of  these  were  believed  to  be  slave- 
girls.  "A  disturbing  thought  would  arise:  These  are 
all  idolators,  and  have  never  heard  of  my  Savior ;  am 
I  in  any  way  responsible  for  their  souls  ?"  In  August 
of  1870  a  meeting  was  called,  and  "The  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Pacific  Coast"  was  or- 
ganized. 

Arrangements  were  soon  made  to  open  in  the 
Chinese  mission  building  a  day-school  for  women  and 
girls,  and  a  large  room  on  the  second  floor  was  as- 
signed for  this  purpose,  while  the  whole  of  the  third 
floor  was  furnished  as  a  dormitory.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  Rescue  Home.  It  was  nearly 
a  year — in  1871 — before  the  first  woman  came.  The 
police  were  informed  that  here  was  an  asylum  of 
refuge  for  those  who  wished  to  escape  from  the  hands 
of  cruel  masters.  Some  were  brought  in  in  this  way, 
others    rescued    from    attempted    suicide,    and    some 


Work  in  the  West  203 

forcibly  delivered  from  unholy  bondage  by  the  hand 
of  the  law,  invoked  by  the  zealous  missionaries.  For 
nearly  three  years  this  was  the  only  place  of  Chris- 
tian refuge  for  Chinese  girls  and  women  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. In  September,  1874,  a  similar  Home  was  in- 
augurated under  the  auspices  of  the  ''Woman's  Occi- 
dental Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church ;"  this  is 
also  doing  good  work.  House-to-house  visitation  was 
undertaken  by  the  Methodist  women,  and,  though 
prosecuted  under  great  and  peculiar  difficulties,  was 
not  without  some  signs  of  encouragement. 

The  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  was  organized  as  auxiliary  to  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Funds  raised  for  the  work  of  the  former  were  paid 
into  the  treasury  of  the  latter,  from  which  appropria- 
tions were  made  to  carry  on  the  operations  under- 
taken by  the  Woman's  Society. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  latter  an  in- 
effectual effort  was  made  to  secure  a  union  with  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  this  body  de- 
ciding that  it  could  not,  without  infringing  its  Con- 
stitution, enter  upon  any  work  in  America,  although 
among  a  heathen  people.  In  1882,  when  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  was  but  two  years  old,  the 
Western  sister,  although  claiming  seniorit\-  by  ten 
years,   sought  admission   into  its   larger   fold.     This, 


204  Twenty  Years'  History 

though  beUevcd  to  be  eminently  desirable,  was  not 
then  consummated,  because  of  a  lack  of  funds  in  the 
Woman's  Home  IMissionary  Society  to  meet  the  im- 
mediate obligations  of  the  Western  work.  It  was 
therefore  with  no  small  degree  of  rejoicing  that,  after 
years  of  waiting,  the  nuptials  were  finally  celebrated 
in  1893,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Toledo,  Ohio. 

The  order  of  work  already  established  by  the  orig- 
inal Society  was  not  changed  under  the  new  admin- 
istration. Some  additional  workers  were  employed, 
and  the  three  lines  of  effort — Rescue  work,  children's 
school  in  the  Mission  Home,  and  daily  visitation  by 
the  missionary,  were  carried  on  with  more  than  pre- 
vious energy.  The  union  with  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  had  secured  the  attention  of  Aux- 
iliaries in  remote  Churches,  and  beneficiary  aid  has 
been  provided  from  year  to  year  by  which  an  average 
of  twenty-five  children  have  been  protected  in  the 
Home.  These  waifs,  sometimes  sad  wrecks  of  in- 
fantile humanity,  have  almost  each  a  history  that 
would  move  a  heart  of  stone,  with  no  two  histories 
alike,  and  each  a  type  of  a  different  class  of  abuses. 
Innocent  children  sold  into  domestic  slavery,  passed 
from  master  to  master,  and  sooner  or  later  found  in 
the  lowest  resorts  of  vice ;  girls  of  a  marriageable  age, 
imported  from  China  and  introduced  into  the  country 


Work  in  the  West  205 

by  stratagem,  and  consigned  as  so  much  merchandise 
to  Hves  of  shame;  helpless  wives  and  children  abused 
and  deserted  by  worthless  fathers — these  are  some  of 
those  to  whom  this  Home  holds  out  the  hand  of  de- 
liverance. In  the  years  of  this  work  in  San  Fran- 
cisco four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  have  been  thus 
rescued,  many  have  been  sent  back  to  their  friends 
in  China,  an  encouraging  number  have  been  clearly 
converted,  some  of  these  have  become  strong  and 
active  Christian  workers,  and  over  one  hundred  have 
married  and  made  Christian  homes. 

Of  the  need  for  the  mission  school,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  be  reminded  of  the  large  number  of  Chinese 
in  California  and  the  peculiar  conditions  existing 
there.  At  some  periods  during  the  last  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century  there  were  as  many  as  sixty  thou- 
sand in  the  State.  In  1901  the  number  was  thought 
to  be  reduced  to  forty-five  thousand,  twenty  thousand 
of  these  in  San  Francisco.  Two  thousand  Chinese  chil- 
dren in  that  city — 'little  urchins  in  yellow  blouses  grow- 
ing up  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,"  to  be  the  voters 
of  the  future,  for  whom  no  adequate  provision  is  made 
in  the  public  schools !  The  Legislature  has  forbidden 
Mongolian  children  to  be  admitted  into  white  schools, 
and  though  separate  schools  have  been  ordered  for 
such,  they  may  be  miles  away  from  the  home  of  the 
child;   and   for  girls,   the   danger  of  being   kidnaped 


2o6  Twenty  Years'  History 

on  the  way  renders  them  practically  useless.  In  point 
of  fact,  there  is  but  one  building  and  a  few  classes 
for  Chinese,  composed  mostly  of  boys.  Remember- 
ing, too,  that  there  are  fifteen  joss-houses  in  China- 
town, and  that  in  every  home  regulated  after  the 
order  of  the  foreign  religion  there  is  a  shelf  upon  the 
wall,  where  before  the  image  of  the  idol  the  boy  is 
taught  to  place  daily  the  votive  offering  of  rice,  what 
shall  we  look  forward  to  for  them  but  a  pagan,  rather 
than  a  Christian,  civilization?  Plainly,  then,  it  be- 
comes imperative  that  missionary  societies  shall  estab- 
lish schools  where  both  secular  and  religious  instruc- 
tion can  be  obtained  by  these  Chinese  children. 

Into  the  secluded  tenements,  from  which  the  better 
class  of  women  never  come  out,  the  missionary,  ac- 
companied by  her  interpreter,  finds  her  way,  climb- 
ing up  rickety  stairs  into  sunless  rooms,  or  down 
underground  into  the  "chambers  of  silence,"  where 
dead  men's  bones  await  transportation  to  the  Father- 
land,— for  even  here  they  have  found  sick  girls  left 
to  perish.  They  have  carried  with  them  flowers  and 
smiles,  and  kind  words  and  loving  ministrations,  for 
the  suffering  and  dying,  until  they  have  been  rewarded 
by  seeing  the  light  of  peace  dawn  on  some  stolid  faces 
and  the  graces  of  the  Spirit  bud  and  blossom  in  the 
midst  of  heathen  depravity. 

Of  the  missionaries  who  have  by  their  brave  and 


Work  in  the  West  207 

loving  persistence  won  a  welcome  into  many  such 
homes,  Mrs.  Jane  Walker,  the  first,  was  a  faithful 
worker  for  eleven  years,  not  only  doing  this  house- 
to-house  visitation,  but  serving  as  matron  and  teacher 
as  well.  I\Irs.  Ida  Hull  also  did  efficient  service  from 
1889  to  1896,  when  she  was  succeeded  by  that  capable 
worker.  Miss  Marguerite  Lake.  Others  in  the  thirty 
years  of  the  existence  of  this  mission  have  assisted 
for  shorter  periods.  Rev.  Chan  Lok  Shang  gives  three 
hours  daily  to  teaching  Chinese  in  the  day-school,  and 
the  matron  the  same  length  of  time  to  giving  instruc- 
tion in  English. 

Weekly  Sunday-schools  have  been  conducted  by 
these  missionaries  in  squalid  tenements  in  the  densely- 
populated  Chinese  quarter.  In  1898  a  comfortable 
hall  was  rented,  under  the  direction  of  the  Parent 
Board,  in  a  convenient  location,  a  forward  step  mak- 
ing glad  the  hearts  of  the  workers.  The  union  and 
interchange  of  service  between  the  representatives  of 
the  two  societies  has  been  most  intimate  and  helpful. 

In  May,  1899,  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  in 
view  of  the  expansion  of  its  work  among  the  Chinese 
in  San  Francisco,  informed  the  managers  of  the 
Oriental  Bureau  that  it  was  no  longer  feasible  to  lend 
to  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  the  rooms 
it  had  been  occupying  for  a  Rescue  Home  and  Mission 
school.    An  appropriation  of  five  thousand  dollars  was 


2o8  Twenty  Years'  History 

asked  for  and  granted  at  the  eighteenth  Annual  Meet- 
ing, and  about  a  year  later  a  suitable  property  was  se- 
cured— a  lot  forty  by  seventy-five  feet,  with  a  six- 
room  brick  house,  situated  at  the  corner  of  Washing- 
ton and  Trenton  Streets,  just  across  from  the  mission 
building  of  the  Parent  Board,  where  the  work  had 
been  carried  on  for  thirty  years.  Plans  were  drawn 
for  an  addition  twice  the  size  of  the  original  house, 
and  work  was  begun  January  20,  1901.  It  was  dedi- 
cated with  great  rejoicing  July  17,  1901.  Consul 
General  Ho  Yow  was  present,  and  made  an  intelligent 
and  sympathetic  address  in  which  he  said,  ''Such 
traffic  in  Chinese  girls  as  is  carried  on  here  in  Chris- 
tian America  is  punishable  in  China  by  decapitation." 

At  the  time  of  the  National  Epworth  League  Con- 
vention in  San  Francisco,  during  that  summer  it  was 
estimated  that  fully  one  thousand  persons  looking  in 
upon  the  new  Rescue  Home  saw  for  the  first  time  the 
little  Orientals  cared  for  there,  and  heard  some  of  their 
sweet  songs.  The  property  is  rated  at  twelve  thousand 
dollars. 

In  1895  a  like  mission  w^ork  was  begun  in  San 
Diego,  Southern  California,  by  Mrs.  T.  S.  Turk,  and 
January,  1896,  Mrs.  T.  F.  Davis  opened  a  similar  mis- 
sion in  Los  Angeles,  from  both  of  which  come  the  same 
story  of  patient  toil,  confidence  in  God,  and  gratitude 
for  some  signs  of  promise.     Mrs.  Davis  spent  four 


Mrs.  Jane  Bancroft  Rohin 

Mrs.  Wm.  C.  Herron. 

Mrs.  H.  C.  McCahe. 

Mrs.  Bishop  Walden. 

Mrs.  Bishop  Fowler. 

Mrs.  W.  F.  Robertson. 

Mrs.  J.  W.  C;osi.ing. 
8    Mrs.  \V.  A.  (jOodman,  Jr. 
g.  Mrs.  Anna  Keni. 


BOARD   OF  TRUSTEES, 

ID.   Mrs.  y.  L.  Whetstone. 


11.  Mrs.  \V.  p.  Thirkield. 

12.  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright. 

13.  Mrs.  I.  D.  Jones. 

14.  Mrs.  M.  T.  MacCUffin. 

15.  Mrs.  Wm.  M.  Ampt. 

16.  Miss  Henrietta  A.  Bancroft. 

17.  Mrs.  W.  L.  Boswell. 


Work  in  the  West  209 

years  in  China  fitting  herself  for  this  service.  Conse- 
quently she  can  go  among  the  Chinese  easily  without 
an  interpreter.  Here,  too,  we  hear  of  slave  girls,  some 
sold  for  two  or  three  thousand  dollars,  and  a  baby  a 
week  old  for  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Many  converted 
Chinese  have  gone  back  to  China,  and  there  stand  fast 
in  the  faith  of  the  gospel. 

JAPANESE   HOME  FOR  WOMEN. 

There  are  said  to  be  ten  thousand  Japanese  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  twenty  thousand  upon  the  Pacific  Coast. 
The  Methodist  Church  and  General  Missionary  Com- 
mittee included  the  Japanese  in  its  California  mission 
field,  and  they  were  cared  for  in  connection  with  the 
Chinese  until  1888.  Then  Dr.  M.  C.  Harris,  formerly 
with  his  gifted  wife.  Flora  Best  Harris,  missionary  in 
Japan,  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  the  Oriental 
work  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  This  mission  has  since  been 
extended  to  embrace  the  Japanese  work  in  Hawaii. 

The  "little  brown  women"  on  our  coasts  were  not 

to  be  overlooked  by  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 

Society,  and  in  1893,  Miss  Ella  J.  Hewitt,  previously  a 

successful  missionary  in  Hakodate,  Japan,  took  charge 

of  the  "Home  for  Japanese  Women"  in  San  Francisco, 

a  rented  house  which  had  been  secured  near  to  the 

Japanese  church.     The  methods  employed   with   this 

people  are  similar  to  those  found  effective  by  the  Immi- 
1") 


2IO  Twenty  Years'  History 

grant  Bureau  in  the  East.  The  Oriental  steamers  are 
met,  and  advice  and  temporary  assistance  frequently 
given. 

Since  the  opening  of  the  new  Rescue  Home  Japan- 
ese girls  and  women,  as  well  as  Chinese,  have  been  re- 
ceived there,  and  the  separate  Japanese  Home  has  been 
discontinued.  Most  of  those  who  come  are  working- 
girls,  of  whom  there  are  said  to  be  an  average  of  about 
two  hundred  in  the  city.  Such  find  in  the  Home,  when 
seeking  or  awaiting  employment,  a  welcome  resort  for 
protection  and  guidance.  But  many  more  are 
smuggled  in  under  false  pretenses,  and  become  in- 
mates of  dens  of  vice,  and  are  practically  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  missionary.  About  one  hundred  Japan- 
ese women  in  the  city  have  been  brought  under  Chris- 
tian influences. 

In  August,  1895,  Miss  Yamada,  a  graduate  of  the 
Methodist  Training-school  in  Yokohama,  who  had  been 
for  three  years  a  Bible-woman  under  the  direction  of 
the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  Japan, 
came  to  work  among  her  Japanese  sisters  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. She  proved  to  be  an  inestimable  blessing  to  this 
mission,  and  her  work  abides.  She  married  in  1898, 
and  returned  to  Japan,  and  other  good  workers  have 
succeeded  her. 

Miss  Lena  B.  Gray,  a  deaconess,  was  appointed  in 
1901  to  do  house-to-house  visitation  among  the  Japan- 


Work  in  the  West  211 

ese.  She  reports  three  hundred  Japanese  families  in 
San  Francisco,  and  has  done  good  work  among  some 
of  these,  both  in  that  city  and  in  Oakland.  "This  neat 
little  home  of  three  rooms  where  Miss  Gray  lives," 
writes  one  of  the  interested  workers  on  the  coast,  "has 
already  become  a  beacon-light  to  Japanese  women." 

Of  the  results  of  this  mission  work  among  the 
Orientals  on  the  Pacific  Coast  we  quote  from  a  Report 
of  1898:  ''We  believe  that  ]\Iethodist  missionary  work 
for  the  Chinese  in  California  has  resulted  in  the  re- 
demption of  fully  one  thousand  souls." 

And  of  its  rellex  influence  on  the  benighted  lands 
beyond  the  sea:  "Both  Japanese  and  Chinese  return 
each  year  by  twenties  and  thirties  to  their  homes  in  the 
Orient,  bearing  the  gospel  to  their  kinsmen." 

And  another  says :  "A  converted  Chinaman  makes 
the  very  best  missionary  to  his  own  people." 

And  the  Report  of  the  Parent  Board  for  1901  says: 
"The  evangelization  of  the  sons  of  the  Celestial  Empire 
on  our  shores  means  a  wonderful  reflex  influence  upon 
the  millions  of  China." 

WORK  IN   HAWAII 

In  the  Hawaiian  Islands  the  Japanese  population 
predominates,  numbering  sixty-seven  thousand.  In 
January,  1899,  a  Christian  Japanese  woman,  ]\Irs. 
Takahashi,  begun   work  among  her  own    people    in 


212  Twenty  Years'  History 

Honolulu.  In  October,  1899,  these  islands  were  at- 
tached to  the  Oriental  Bureau,  and  five  hundred  dol- 
lars were  appropriated  by  the  Board  of  Managers  for 
work  among  the  women  and  children  there.  In  De- 
cember of  the  same  year,  Miss  Sudo,  an  efficient  native 
Bible  woman,  was  brought  over  from  Japan  to  minister 
to  them  in  the  gospel.  In  August,  1900,  Miss  Ella  Hol- 
brook,  a  nurse  deaconess,  was  temporarily  loaned  to 
this  field  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 
The  work  was  promising,  and  these  workers  were  gra- 
ciously rewarded  by  seeing  a  number  of  heathen  women 
soundly  converted  in  this  first  year. 

Miss  Holbrook  having  been  recalled  by  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Miss  Libbie  J. 
Blois  was  secured,  and  sailed.  May  11,  1901,  from  San 
Francisco  for  Honolulu.  The  work  of  this  mission  is 
clearly  a  message  to  the  heathen.  Dr.  M.  C.  Harris, 
in  his  report  to  the  Parent  Board  in  1901,  says:  "There 
are  many  thousands  of  people  in  Hawaii  who  have 
never  heard  the  gospel." 

In  October,  1900,  the  Oriental  Bureau  was  relieved 
of  the  care  of  the  missions  in  Hawaii,  and  a  Special 
Committee  was  created  to  have  charge  of  the  work.  It 
consisted  of  elect  ladies  representing  the  California, 
Southern  California,  Oregon,  and  Puget  Sound  Con- 
ferences, with  Mrs.  Bishop  J.  W.  Hamilton  as  Chair- 


Work  in  the  West 


21  ? 


man,  and  Mrs.  Jennie  C.  Winston,  of  Pacific  Grove, 
Cal.,  Secretary.  Mrs.  Winston  has  represented  the 
work  of  this  committee  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of 
the  Board  of  Managers.  The  work  in  Hawaii  has 
found  in  this  Secretary  an  eloquent  pleader  for  the 
redemption  of  this  "Paradise  of  the  Pacific." 


CHAPTER  VI 

WORK    IN    CITIES— THE    DEACONESS    BU- 
REAU—YOUNG PEOPLE'S  WORK  AND 
EDUCATIVE  MOVEMENTS 

LOCAL  WORK 

The:  local  work  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society,  as  it  certainly  antedated,  also  distinctly  paved 
the  way  for  the  introduction  of  the  deaconess  into  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  At  least  three  years  be- 
fore the  General  Conference  authorized  the  formal  set- 
ting apart  of  the  workers,  large  numbers  of  devout 
women,  under  the  direction  of  the  Society,  were  doing 
actual  deaconess  work,  although  not  called  by  the  name 
"deaconess."  "Local  work  in  cities  and  towns"  had 
become  one  of  the  recognized  fields  of  labor. 

In  the  Fourth  Annual  Report,  1885,  we  find  men- 
tion of  the  increasing  demand  coming  up  from  the 
Churches  that  some  effort  be  made  to  both  stimulate 
and  systematize  local  missionary  work  by  affiliating 
it  with  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  It 
was  said  that  not  only  should  we  stretch  out  the  hand 
of  help  to  the  needy  in  the  home  land  in  the  South  and 

214 


Work  in  Cities  215 

on  the  frontier,  but  that  not  far  away  from  our  church- 
doors  were  those  whom  the  gospel  call  would  never 
reach  without  the  compelling  force  of  an  aggressive 
purpose.  "This  plea,"  said  J\Irs.  Davis  in  her  annual 
address,  "has  been  so  constantly  urged  that  if  we  would 
w^e  could  not  lose  sight  of  it." 

At  this  Annual  Meeting  the  "Bureau  of  Local 
Work"  was  authorized,  Mrs.  D.  L.  Williams  appointed 
Secretary,  and  a  series  of  by-laws  adopted  defining  its 
jurisdiction  and  limitations.  ]\Irs.  Williams  continued 
in  this  position  until  i8q6,  when  she  was  elected  Gen- 
eral Treasurer  of  the  Society,  and  was  then  succeeded 
in  the  Bureau  by  Mrs.  E.  B.  Green,  of  Rochester,  New 
York,  who  gave  to  it  two  years  of  excellent  service. 

The  duty  of  this  Bureau  was  to  encourage  the  em- 
ployment of  city  missionaries  and  to  develop  in  the 
local  Auxiliaries  an  active  interest  in  personal,  direct 
effort  to  reach  the  unchurched  people  nearest  at  hand. 
Money  for  the  support  of  such  work  must  be  raised 
as  a  special  fund,  and  never  in  any  case  be  taken  from 
the  General  Treasury,  but  might  be  reported  to  it  by 
voucher,  and  credit  received  as  for  cash.  The  re- 
sponsibility as  the  years  went  by  of  defining  the  bound- 
aries of  this  Bureau,  the  large  correspondence  in- 
volved, the  holding  well  in  hand,  as  in  a  silken  skein, 
the  tangled  threads  of  the  many  lines  of  work  reported 
to  it,  and  the  impossibility  of  allowing  all  the  claims 


2i6  Twenty  Years'  History 

for  recognition  that  were  made  upon  it,  rendered  the 
work  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Local  Bureau  no  en- 
viable task.  But  she  had  her  reward  in  the  gradual 
clearing  up  of  sentiment  on  mooted  questions  and  the 
crystallization  of  many  sporadic  and  irregular  enter- 
prises into  well-defined  city  missions,  industrial  schools, 
and  even  Deaconess  Homes. 

In  the  'Xocal  Work"  and  ''City  Missions"  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  the  deaconess  was 
being  unconsciously  evolved.  In  1899  this  Bureau  was 
dissolved  and  its  work  absorbed  into  that  of  the  Dea- 
coness Bureau. 

DEACONESS   WORK 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1888  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  authorized  the  recognition  of  the 
Order  of  Deaconesses,  outlined  the  duties  of  these 
lay  workers  and  the  conditions  to  be  observed  in 
admitting  them  to  and  continuing  them  in  the 
office.  From  this  time  dates  the  beginning  of 
legislation  in  the  denomination  upon  this  subject; 
and  yet  it  was  no  new  thing  under  the  sun.  Care- 
ful students  will  agree  that  the  female  diaconate 
as  now  approved  is  but  a  revival  of  a  usage  obtaining 
in  the  early  Church,  and  continuing  to  the  time  of  the 
twelfth  century.  From  that  period  it  fell  gradually 
into  disuse,  until  the  quickening  spirit  of  the  nineteenth 


Work  in  Cities  217 

century  brought  women  into  more  active  relations  in 
the  Church  and  the  world. 

Bishop  Thoburn,  having  observed  this  work  abroad, 
is  credited  with  having  been  the  first  to  publicly  urge 
its  adoption  in  American  Methodism.  This  was  in 
August,  1886,  at  Belief ontaine,  Ohio,  in  an  address 
before  the  Central  Ohio  Conference. 

It  was  in  this  same  year  that  Aliss  Jane  ^l.  Ban- 
croft, a  warm  friend  of  all  forms  of  Home  Missionary 
effort,  went  abroad,  and  for  nearly  two  years  was 
brought  into  relation  with  and  made  a  close  study  of 
the  work  of  deaconesses  in  Europe. 

In  Chicago,  in  the  summer  of  1887,  the  work  was 
first  practically  begun,  when  eight  women,  under  the 
leadership  of  Mrs.  Lucy  Rider  ]\Ieyer,  carried  on  sys- 
tematic visitation  with  Christian  ministries  among  the 
poor  and  vicious  of  that  great  city.  A  memorial  from 
the  Rock  River  Conference  to  the  General  Conference 
of  the  following  year,  and  one  presented  by  Bishop 
Thoburn  at  the  same  time,  urging  the  need  for  dea- 
conesses for  India,  resulted  in  the  favorable  legisla- 
tion above  alluded  to. 

Across  the  Atlantic,  from  Kaiserswerth  and  Mild- 
may,  and  other  centers  of  religious  effort,  had  come, 
year  after  year,  convincing  reports  of  the  efficiency  of 
deaconesses  as  there  employed,  and  in  our  own  land 
our  German  sisters  were  seen  closely  following  these 


2i8  Twenty  Years'  History 

examples.  In  commending  this  work  to  the  thinking 
people  of  the  Methodist  episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  bore 
no  insignificant  part. 

THE  DEACONESS  BUREAU 

The  Deaconess  Bureau  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  comprises  a  work  so  great  in  extent 
and  varied  in  character  as  to  demand  a  volume,  rather 
than  a  chapter.  It  will  be  impossible  within  the  limits 
of  this  work  to  do  more  than  sketch  the  outlines  of  its 
rise  and  progress. 

The  Secretary  of  this  Bureau,  Mrs.  Jane  Bancroft 
Robinson,  was  the  first  to  press  the  claims  of  organized 
deaconess  work  upon  the  attention  of  the  Society,  and 
has  continued  since  1888  to  give  herself  unsparingly 
to  the  oversight  of  this  department.  Her  name  has 
been  so  closely  associated  with  all  the  details  of  the 
history  that  frequent  reference  will  be  made  to  her 
work  in  following  the  growth  of  the  movement.  It 
may  safely  be  said  that  she  has  personally  founded  a 
larger  number  of  deaconess  institutions  in  connection 
with  American  Methodism  than  has  any  other  one 
person.  Her  sister,  Miss  Henrietta  A.  Bancroft,  has 
been  her  able  coadjutor,  and  the  Assistant  Secretary, 
Mrs.  Amanda  C.  Minard,  of  Bufifalo,  N.  Y.,  has  been 
in  labors  abundant. 


Work  in  Cities  219 

In  1886,  Miss  Jane  M.  Bancroft,  then  dean  of  the 
Woman's  College  of  the  Northwestern  University, 
Evanston,  Illinois,  went  abroad  for  two  years  of  study 
in  the  universities  of  Europe,  and  was  providentially 
led  to  give  attention  to  social  ethics  and  the  methods 
employed  by  various  humanitarian  and  evangelistic 
societies  for  the  uplift  of  the  neglected  classes.  In 
Germany,  England,  Switzerland,  and  France  she  saw 
the  deaconesses,  the  "Sisters  of  the  People,"  individ- 
ually consecrated  to  lives  of  holy  service,  and  united 
in  communities  suggesting  the  perfection  of  Christian 
organization.  Moved  by  a  desire  to  see  her  own 
land  and  her  beloved  Church  profit  by  all  that  was 
best  in  the  old  world,  she  wrote,  in  the  spring  of  1887, 
from  Zurich,  Switzerland,  to  Mrs.  R.  S.  Rust,  asking 
what  she  might  do  to  help  the  Woman's  Home  jNIis- 
sionary  Society.  The  latter  replied,  "Study  thor- 
oughly the  deaconess  movement  as  you  see  it  abroad, 
and  come  back  to  lead  the  hosts  of  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society  along  these  lines."  Upon 
her  return  to  America  in  the  fall  of  1888,  ^Irs.  Rust 
immediately  wrote  her,  urging  her  attendance  at  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  General  Board  of  Managers, 
to  be  held  at  Boston  in  November  following,  made  a 
place  for  her  on  the  program,  and  introduced  the  sub- 
ect  of  ''Deaconess  Work"  at  some  length  in  her  An- 
nual  Report.     Miss   Bancroft   addressed   the   Boston 


220  Twenty  Years'  History 

Preachers'  Meeting ;  also  large  audiences  in  a  num- 
ber of  the  churches  and  the  Convention  of  the 
General  Board  of  Managers,  with  fine  effect.  The 
first  contribution  for  this  special  work  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Society — a  gift  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars— was  made  by  Captain  Thomas,  of  Boston,  at 
the  close  of  her  address  before  the  Convention. 

When  these  nearly  two  hundred  elect  ladies,  gath- 
ered at  this  meeting  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
scattered  to  their  homes,  they  may  be  said  to  have 
carried  this  good  seed  of  a  new  and  beneficent  idea 
into  as  many  communities  and  centers  of  religious 
thought.  What  was  being  done  in  Germany  could  be 
done  in  America.  The  Church  had  approved,  and  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  gladly  fell  in  line 
with  the  new  movement. 

A  "Committee  on  Deaconess  Work"  was  appointed 
at  the  Boston  Annual  Meeting,  November,  1888,  with 
Miss  Jane  M.  Bancroft  as  Chairman,  and  for  two 
years  thereafter  she  devoted  her  time  and  talents  to 
this  work,  going  from  city  to  city,  making  addresses, 
collecting  funds,  and  founding  Deaconess  Homes. 

The  first  Deaconess  Convention  was  held  at  Ocean 
Grove  in  August,  1889.  At  this  meeting,  and  those 
held  for  the  two  succeeding  years  at  Chautauqua  and 
Lakeside,  the  Independent  Homes  and  those  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  were  alike  repre- 


Work  in  Cities  221 

sented  by  delegates.  The  Ocean  Grove  meeting,  which 
has  been  of  annual  recurrence  up  to  the  present  time, 
remains  under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  and  more  recently  similar  sum- 
mer assemblies  are  being  held  by  it  at  Chautauqua 
and  Mountain  Lake  I^ark.  These  are  no  longer  dele- 
gated meetings,  and  by  common  consent  no  legislative 
action  is  attempted. 

In  1889,  Miss  Jane  M.  Bancroft  made  a  valuable 
contribution  to  deaconess  literature  by  the  publication 
of  her  book,  ''Deaconesses  in  Europe  and  their  Les- 
sons for  America."  This  is  an  exhaustive  study  of 
the  subject,  and  gives  a  clear  insight  into  the  prac- 
ticability of  the  movement. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  General  Board  of 
Managers,  1889,  held  at  Indianapolis,  the  "Committee" 
was  estabhshed  as  a  "Bureau,"  with  }vliss  Jane  M. 
Bancroft  still  in  charge,  and  the  famous  resolution 
was  adopted  which  declared  the  Society  ready  "to  as- 
sume the  care  of  Deaconess  Homes  wherever  such 
Homes  shall  be  intrusted  to  it,  subject  to  the  limita- 
tions of  the  Discipline  and  so  far  as  financial  consid- 
erations wall  permit." 

At  the  end  of  this  year,  1890,  six  Deaconess 
Homes — those  at  Detroit,  Buffalo,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  Pittsburg,  and  Syracuse — were 
allied   with   the  Woman's   Home   Missionary    Societv, 


222  Twenty  Years^  History 

largely  as  a  result  of  Miss  Bancroft's  well-directed 
activities.  When,  in  May,  1891,  she  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Mr.  George  O.  Robinson,  a  lawyer  and 
prominent  citizen  of  Detroit,  Tvlich.,  the  Society  gained 
rather  than  lost  a  friend.  Well  known  and  influential 
in  Methodist  circles  throughout  the  country,  Mr.  Rob- 
inson is  not  only  deeply  interested  in  every  good  cause, 
but  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  deaconess  work 
of  the  Church  as  directed  by  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

From  year  to  year  the  Deaconess  Bureau  has  grown 
in  numbers  and  importance.  In  1894  an  Assistant 
Secretary  was  found  necessary,  and  Mrs.  A.  C.  Minard, 
of  Buffalo,  was  appointed.  These  Secretaries,  with 
the  Field  Secretary,  an  Executive  Committee,  an 
Advisory  Council,  and  two  members  from  the  Board 
of  Management  of  each  Deaconess  Home  affiliated 
with  the  Society,  comprise  the  Deaconess  Bureau,  a 
body  of  over  fifty  members,  whose  conferences  and 
deliberations  form  no  small  side  issue  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  General  Board  of  Managers.  Nor 
should  this  be  a  source  of  surprise,  when  we  consider 
that  nearly  one-half  of  the  work  of  the  Society  is  em- 
braced in  this  Bureau,  and  that  forty-five  per  cent  of 
all  the  Deaconess  Homes  in  English-speaking  Meth- 
odism are  directly  under  its  supervision.  Complete 
quarterly  reports  from  the  different  Homes  are  for- 


Work  in  Cities  223 

warded  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  and  kept  on 
file.  Financial  reports  are  made  at  the  end  of  each 
fiscal  year,  and  connectional  supervision  is  maintained 
by  a  system  of  transfers  from  Home  to  Home,  and 
by  the  appointment  of  the  graduates  of  the  National 
Training-schools  to  the  several  Homes. 

In  1897,  Miss  Henrietta  A.  Bancroft,  while  Pro- 
fessor of  English  and  Preceptress  of  Albion  College 
in  Michigan,  was  induced  to  accept  the  position  of 
Field  Secretary  of  the  Deaconess  Bureau.  Both  Aliss 
Bancroft  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Robinson,  had  the  ex- 
perience and  insight  into  the  work  of  the  Church  that 
comes  to  the  daughters  of  Methodist  ministers,  and 
both  secured  the  only  gift  such  parents  can  well  be- 
stow— a  liberal  education.  After  devoting  her  ener- 
gies for  many  years  to  the  cause  of  higher  education. 
Miss  H.  A.  Bancroft  went  to  Europe  for  further 
study.  While  there,  during  the  fall  of  1892,  she  re- 
sponded to  the  request  of  the  authorities  of  the  ]Mild- 
may  Deaconess  Home,  and  gave  its  deaconesses  a 
series  of  lectures  upon  methods  of  instruction  for  use 
in  their  night-school,  living  thus  with  them  for  two 
months  in  their  Home.  She  has  since  traveled  thou- 
sands of  miles  in  this  service,  and  spoken  in  scores 
of  cities,  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco,  also  visit- 
ing the  frontier  and  Indian  stations  of  the  work.  It 
becomes  her  duty  to  pass  from  one  Home  to  another. 


224  Twenty  Years'  History 

to  study  the  situation  in  each,  to  recommend  the  best 
measures,  and  to  supply  a  connectional  bond  of  sym- 
pathy and  union.  Wherever  she  goes  she  kindles 
enthusiasm  for  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety. 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  has 
proved  itself  always  loyal  to  the  provisions  of  the  Dis- 
cipline, and,  being  one  of  the  great  connectional  So- 
cieties of  the  Church,  provides  the  very  best  facilities 
for  the  introduction  and  maintenance  of  Deaconess 
Homes  in  any  community. 

Thirty-six  deaconess  institutions,  with  a  property 
value  of  over  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  are  now 
allied  with  the  Society.  The  number  of  deaconesses  in 
connection  with  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety, including  probationers,  is  at  this  date  nearly 
four  hundred. 

Besides  the  three  ''National  Training-schools" 
(those  drawing  support  from  the  General  Treasury 
and  under  the  special  direction  of  the  Society),  three 
of  these  Deaconess  Homes  have  departments  for  dea- 
coness training,  and  are  locally  supported.  These  are 
at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  where  there  is  a  large  hospital 
in  close  affiliation  with  the  school ;  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  where  is  situated  the  Aldrich  Memorial  Dea- 
coness Home ;  and  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

The  beginnings  of  deaconess  work  in  Washington, 


Work  in  Cities  225 

D.  C,  under  tlie  auspices  of  the  Woman's  Home  ^iis- 
sionary  Society  were  full  of  interest.  In  the  winter 
of  1889  and  1890,  Miss  Jane  M.  Bancroft  visited  that 
city,  and,  by  the  presentation  of  the  subject  in  the 
leading-  Churches,  so  aroused  public  interest  that  the 
rental  of  a  house  on  F  Street,  Northeast,  was  offered 
by  Mrs.  Susan  J.  Wheeler  for  the  beginning-  of  the 
work.  This  Home  was  formally  opened  and  dedi- 
cated May  15,  1890.  Eight  Christian  women  offered 
themselves  for  deaconess  work  during  that  year,  and 
spent  more  or  less  time  in  the  Home. 

During  the  year,  Mr.  Ephraim  Nash,  a  devout 
layman  and  unostentatious  helper  of  the  poor,  was 
moved  to  offer  his  residence  in  Washington  to  the 
W'oman's  Home  Missionary  Society  for  the  Train- 
ing-school that  had  already  been  decided  upon  as  a 
memorial  to  Mrs.  Hayes.  It  was  a  beautiful  prop- 
erty, in  a  commanding  location  at  the  corner  of 
Pierce  and  North  Capitol  Streets,  worth  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars,  barring  a  mortgage  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  which  the  Society  in  accepting  the  gift  agreed 
to  pay. 

The  Deaconess  Home,  already  started,  became  a 
part  of  the  National  Training-school  for  Deaconesses 
and  Missionaries,  which  has  continued  to  be  the  head- 
quarters of  deaconess  work  in  Washington. 

The    National   Training-schools   of   the    Woman's 

16 


226  Twenty  Years'  History 

Home  Missionary  Society  are  three  in  number,  of 
which  the  oldest  and  largest  is  this 

LUCY  WEBB  HAyES  national  TRAINING-SCHOOL, 

At  Washington,  D.  C,  which  perpetuates  in  its  char- 
acter and  labor  of  love  the  name  of  Mrs.  Rutherford 
B.  Hayes,  the  honored  first  President  of  the  Society. 
In  October,  1889,  soon  after  her  death,  the  General 
Board  of  Managers,  in  session  at  Indianapolis,  re- 
solved to  establish  an  institution  for  the  training  of 
young  women  for  Christian  work,  to  be  maintained 
by  the  Society  as  a  memorial  of  her  worth. 

It  was,  on  the  recommendation  of  Miss  Jane  M. 
Bancroft,  located  at  Washington,  and  gifts  were  con- 
tributed for  this  object  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
The  building  given  by  Mr.  Nash,  enlarged  and  beau- 
tified, was  formally  opened,  October,  1891,  as  a  train- 
ing-school, many  distinguished  ministers  and  laymen 
from  the  Ecumenical  Council,  then  in  session  at  Wash- 
ington, being  present  and  assisting. 

In  October,  1894,  the  institution  was  further  en- 
riched by  the  donation  of  a  hospital  building,  the 
generous  gift  of  Mr.  W.  J.  Sibley,  a  noble  layman  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  as  a  memorial  to  his  deceased 
wife. 

In  1894  the  institution  was  chartered,  by  act  of 
Congress,  and  the  various  departments  comprising  it. 


Work  in  Cities  227 

the  Training-school,  the  Deaconess  Home,  and  the 
Hospital,  forming  together  one  corporation,  were 
unified  under  one  administration.  In  1900,  Sibley 
Hospital  was  greatly  enlarged,  and  facilities  for  car- 
rying forward  its  important  mission  were  correspond- 
ingly increased. 

This  Training-school  has  sent  out  many  well-pre- 
pared Christian  workers  to  all  parts  of  the  land,  and 
there  are  few  Homes  of  the  Woman's  Home  Alis- 
sionary  Society  in  which  its  students  and  graduates 
are  not  found. 

From  the  opening  of  the  Training-school  in  1891, 
until  1894,  Rev.  I.  N.  Dalby,  M.  D.,  of  the  Genesee 
Conference,  New  York,  was  the  efficient  President. 
During  his  incumbency  he  edited  and  published  as 
an  individual  enterprise  an  attractive  paper  called  The 
Deaconess  at  Work.  In  1894  he  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Alfred  H.  Ames,  D.  D.,  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
an  honored  member  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  who 
filled  the  office  for  six  years,  leaving  the  impress  of  his 
fatherly  spirit  upon  the  scores  of  young  women  who 
passed  through  the  institution  under  his  care. 

In  1901  the  Rev.  Charles  W.  Gallagher,  D.  D., 
a  member  of  the  New  England  Southern  Conference, 
was  elected  as  President  of  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes 
Training-school.  Dr.  Gallagher  is  well  equipped  by  a 
wide  and  varied  experience  acquired  as  an  executive 


228  Twenty  Years'  History 

officer  and  President  of  well-known  institutions  of 
higher  education  in  the  Church.  Under  his  vigorous 
leadership  the  outlook  for  the  future  is  promising. 

The  position  of  Preceptress  was  filled  by  Mrs. 
Christine  B.  Dickinson  from  1894  to  1897,  and  by 
Miss  Ida  H.  Rogers  from  1897  to  1899.  Under  the 
care  of  these  capable  and  consecrated  instructors  the 
home  life  of  the  institution  was  beautifully  developed. 

Miss  Martha  M.  Tomkinson,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
entered  upon  her  duties  as  Preceptress,  October,  1899, 
with  her  sister,  Miss  Ellen  F.  Tomkinson,  as  assistant. 

These  ladies  are  experienced  educators,  and  before 
assuming  their  duties  at  Washington,  went  abroad 
for  a  year's  rest  and  study.  They  spent  some  time 
in  London,  making  frequent  visits  to  the  work  of  the 
Wesleyan  deaconesses  and  "The  West  London  Mis- 
sion," and  were  especially  favored  by  a  sojourn  at  Mild- 
may,  going  out  with  the  deaconesses  to  their  work, 
thus  securing  the  best  information  possible  in  regard 
to  the  development  of  this  form  of  service  among 
women.  They,  as  do  most  of  the  members  of  the 
Training-school  Faculty,  give  themselves  to  this  work 
at  the  regular  deaconess  allowance. 

Miss  Margaret  S.  Wilson,  a  capable  teacher,  served 
this  work  for  two  years.  Miss  Blanche  Zehring, 
Ph.  D.,  a  young  woman  of  broad  scholarship,  has 
been   since    1899  a   valuable   member  of  the   Faculty. 


Work  in  Cities  229 

Besides  other  resident  teachers  who  have  nobly 
served  the  school,  lectures  have  been  gratuitously 
given  by  many  eminent  men  and  women,  both  in  and 
out  of  Washington,  the  resident  pastors  contributing 
largely  of  their  time  and  talents  for  the  good  of  the 
institution.  The  medical  instructors  and  practitioners 
in  the  hospital,  who  have  given  freely  of  their  serv- 
ices for  the  relief  of  the  suffering  and  the  benefit  of 
the  students  and  nurses,  have  been  among  the  most 
distinguished  of  their  profession  in  Washington. 

Miss  Charlotte  A.  Aikens,  of  Canada,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Hospital  in  1898  as  Director  and  head 
of  the  nurse-training  department,  and  gave  excellent 
service  in  both  capacities  for  four  years.  She  has  been 
succeeded  by  Miss  Carra  Pew,  a  graduate  of  both  the 
Hospital  and  Bible  Departments  of  the  Training- 
school. 

Mrs.  D.  B.  Street,  of  Washington,  as  Chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Management  of  Sibley  Hospital,  has 
been  prominently  identified  with  the  Training-school 
since  the  inauguration  of  this  department. 

In  the  forefront  of  all  work  for  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  in  Washington,  Mrs.  Clara  L. 
Roach  has  long  been  an  influential  personality.  Whether 
as  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, which  position  she  has  held  since  1886,  or  as  a 
General  Organizer  of  the  Society,  or  as  an  effective 


230  Twenty  Years'  History 

factor  in  the  work  of  the  General  Board  of  Managers, 
or  as  an  active  member  of  the  Training-school  Com- 
mittee, Mrs.  Roach  has  been  so  efficient  as  to  have 
few  superiors. 

RUST     PIALL 

Within  three  years  from  the  time  of  the  opening 
of  the  National  Training-school  the  enlargement  of 
its  accommodations  became  an  obvious  necesssity. 
More  candidates  were  applying  for  admission  than 
could  be  received,  and  meanwhile  the  demand  for 
deaconess  workers  all  over  the  Church  was  constantly 
increasing  as  their  value  and  usefulness  became  better 
understood.  Rooms  were  rented  in  an  adjoining  build- 
ing, and  the  next  year  others  were  added,  until  in 
1899  it  was  said  that  parts  of  six  houses  were  being 
utilized. 

In  1897,  at  the  seventeenth  Annual  Meeting  at 
Baltimore,  it  was  resolved  to  enlarge  the  Training- 
school  plant  by  the  erection  of  a  new  building,  in  the 
same  block  with  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training- 
school,  to  be  named  *'Rust  Hall,''  as  a  tribute  to  Mrs. 
E.  L.  Rust  for  her  many  years  of  service  to  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  Plans  were  set 
afoot  at  once,  and  prosecuted  with  vigor.  Through 
the  kindness  of  a  warm  friend  of  the  Society,  Mr. 
George  O.  Robinson,  of  Detroit,  money  was  ad- 
vanced, first,  to  purchase  land,   and  then,  this  hav- 


Work  in  Cities  231 

ing  been  secured,  to  erect  the  edifice.  A  site  was 
secured,  and  ground  was  formally  broken  Novem- 
ber 16,  1899.  The  building  was  begun  in  1901,  the 
first  brick  being  placed  November  6th,  and  the  corner- 
stone laid  with  impressive  ceremonies  on  the  14th. 
Slowdy  and  carefully  the  walls  have  risen,  a  noble 
and  attractive  edifice,  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long 
on  North  Capitol  Street,  and  eighty  feet  deep  on  the 
M  Street  front.  With  heating  and  lighting  plant  in- 
stalled, and  well-furnished,  it  is  expected  to  be  ready 
for  occupancy  in  the  fall  of  1902.  It  will  house  one 
hundred  and  fifty  inmates. 

Rust  Hall  not  only  commemorates  the  life  and 
work  of  the  good  woman  whose  name  it  bears,  but  in 
the  thought  of  those  who  inaugurated  and  carried 
forward  the  enterprise  there  has  been  the  purpose  to 
perpetuate  in  this  way  the  name  also  of  that  tried  and 
true  friend  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society, 
her  honored  husband.  Rev.  Richard  S.  Rust,  D.  D. 

Moreover,  it  stands  as  a  tribute  to  Christian 
womanhood.  Originated  by  women  for  women,  it 
honors,  not  one  woman  alone,  but  it  is  also  a  me- 
morial building  for  many  friends  of  other  good  women. 
A  woman.  Miss  H.  A.  Bancroft,  was  Chairman  of  the 
Building  Committee,  and  for  it  she  planned  in  many 
and  diverse  ways.  Men  and  women  both  served  loy- 
ally on  this  committee,  and  to  Dr.  Gallagher  a  special 


232  Twenty  Years'  History 

debt  of  gratitude  is  due  for  his  efficient  oversight  of 
its  construction.  May  a  great  host  of  those  whom  God 
is  calling  to  missionary  and  deaconess  service  find 
inspiration  within  its  walls,  and  going  forth  **in  his 
name"  bear  the  evangel  of  love  and  mercy  to  thou- 
sands of  them  who  sit  in  darkness ! 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  is  under 
great  obligation  to  Mr.  George  O.  Robinson  for  money 
advanced  at  a  moderate  rate  of  interest  and  in  amounts 
as  needed  for  the  building  of  Rust  Hall.  Without  this 
timely  aid  the  w^ork  could  not  have  been  accomplished 
for  many  years  to  come.  No  uninterested  party  would 
have  loaned  money  without  a  property  in  sight  with 
which  to  secure  it.  As  in  the  early  days  of  the  Society 
Dr.  Rust  signed  his  name  many  times  as  its  guarantee, 
so  in  this  latest  enterprise  Mr.  Robinson  has  proved 
himself  a  staunch  friend  of  the  cause,  even  at  some 
personal  inconvenience. 

The  original  building  of  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes 
Training-school  will  henceforth  be  known  as  ''Nash 
Hall,"  to  distinguish  it  from  other  buildings  of  the 
institution.  The  first  floor  will  be  used  as  a  Deaconess 
Home,  and  be  occupied  by  the  licensed  deaconesses 
working  in  Washington  who  receive  their  support 
from  the  city  Churches.  The  two  upper  stories  will 
continue  to  furnish  dormitory  room  for  students  and 
nurses. 


¥/ork  in  Cities  233 

Above  this  building  tloats  a  beautiful  United  States 
flag,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  M.  R.  Crawford,  of  Williams- 
port,  Pa.,  who  also  left  by  will  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
to  the  Woman's  Home  iMissionary  Society. 

"The  Annex,"  situated  between  Nash  Hall  and 
Rust  Hall,  is  occupied  as  a  residence  by  the  President 
and  his  family. 

THE  SAN  FRANCISCO  TRAINING-SCHOOIv 

This  school  dates  from  the  winter  of  1890  and 
1891,  when  Miss  Jane  M.  Bancroft  visited  San  Fran- 
cisco and  initiated  deaconess  work  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.  A  Deaconess  Home  was  opened  and  excellent 
service  was  done,  when,  in  1893,  an  epidemic  of  small- 
pox, causing  the  death  of  a  self-sacrificing  worker, 
closed  the  Home.  In  1894  the  Home  was  reopened, 
with  ]\Irs.  H.  Ida  Benson,  a  graduate  of  the  Training- 
school  at  Washington,  as  Superintendent.  i\Irs.  Ben- 
son gave  enlarged  breadth  to  the  work,  and  soon  in- 
stituted the  Bible  Training-school,  which  in  a  modest 
way  gathered  about  itself  a  coterie  of  choice  Chris- 
tian women.  A  large  building  was  rented,  and  the 
work  of  the  students  was  felt  in  prison  and  jail  meet- 
ings, ship  and  hospital  work,  rescue  work  and  evan- 
gelistic services.  In  March,  1898,  Mrs.  Benson,  the 
faithful  and  beloved  Superintendent,  was  obliged  to 
resign  her  work,  on  account  of  severe  illness,  and  the 


234  Twenty  Years'  History 

care  of  the  school  largely  devolved  upon  the  Rev. 
J.  N.  Beard,  D.  D.,  who  had  been  Dean  of  the  school 
that  year.  Mrs.  Louise  Carver  was  chosen  as  acting 
Superintendent,  and  was  a  loving  house-mother  to  the 
deaconesses  until  her  death  in  1900. 

The  growing  work  demanded  larger  and  more 
special  assistance  on  the  part  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  the  interests  of  which  compelled 
the  establishment  of  a  thoroughly-equipped  Training- 
school  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  In  the  summer  of  1901 
the  close  and  constant  friend  of  the  institution,  Dr. 
J.  N.  Beard,  was  elected  its  President.  As  President 
of  the  ''University  of  the  Pacific,"  and  of  other  insti- 
tutions of  the  Church,  his  experience,  supplemented 
by  study  of  sociological  questions  in  Europe,  fitted 
him  for  this  responsible  place.  Through  his  active 
efiforts,  in  September,  1901,  a  fine  property  was  pur- 
chased and  the  school  installed  therein.  Dr.  Beard 
has  had  the  co-operation  of  an  unusual  number  of 
well-trained  teachers.  In  truth,  from  the  beginning 
this  school  has  been  served  freely  by  noble  men  and 
women,  among  whom  should  be  remembered  the 
names  of  Mrs.  A.  IT.  Spring  and  Miss  Minnie 
Frickey,  w^ho  devoted  themselves  to  its  interests. 
In  its  methods  and  results  it  closely  parallels  the  work 
of  other  training-schools ;  but,  situated  as  it  is  in  the 
center  of  a  population  numbering  half  a  million,  and 


Work  in  Cities  235 

consisting  of  people  from  almost  every  quarter  of  the 
dobe,  there  lies  before  its  students  a  wide  and  inter- 
esting  variety  of  work.  Great  emphasis  is  laid  upon 
the  practical  work  in  which  they  are  expected  to  en- 
gage. Those  familiar  with  the  conditions  have  high 
hopes  for  the  future  good  to  be  accomplished  by  this 
institution. 

FISK   TRAINING-SCHOOI. 

Kansas  City,  Kan.,  has  possessed  for  some  years  its 
Bethany  Hospital.  The  natural  step  in  advance  was 
to  obtain  a  Deaconess  Home.  When  Miss  Henrietta 
A.  Bancroft  visited  the  city  during  the  summer  of 
1898  the  desire  to  establish  such  a  Home  was  laid 
before  her,  with  a  request  for  the  co-operation  of 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  It  was  rep- 
resented that  there  are  a  large  number  of  self-reliant, 
able  young  w^omen  in  the  Middle  West  unable  to  incur 
large  expense  in  going  to  a  distant  school,  and  also 
that  better  opportunities  for  Bible-training  should  be 
provided  for  the  nurses  at  Bethany  Hospital.  These 
considerations  led  to  the  opening  of  the  institutions 
in  a  modest  way  in  1899,  with  Miss  Mary  S.  Pegram 
as  Superintendent.  Her  health  became  impaired,  and 
she  was  able  to  remain  but  a  few  months.  Miss  Wini- 
fred Spaulding  was  then  secured  as  her  successor. 
She  had  had  a  record  of  unusual  and  varied  experi- 
ence  as   active   deaconess,    deaconess   superintendent, 


236  Twenty  Years'  History 

and  field  worker,  and  thus  well  equipped  she  entered 
on  her  duties  with  enthusiasm. 

From  the  beginning,  this  school  has  been  char- 
acterized by  a  deep,  all-pervading  spiritual  life.  Its 
first  graduating  class  of  1900  numbered  only  two.  Its 
second  of  1902  numbered  eleven.  These  are  all  now 
serving  as  deaconesses  or  are  at  Bethany  Hospital  pre- 
paring to  become  nurse  deaconesses.  Miss  Spaulding 
has  gathered  to  herself  an  efficient  corps  of  resident 
and  non-resident  teachers,  kindred  spirits,  under  whose 
influence  the  students  are  obtaining  an  excellent  prepa- 
ration for  the  noble  calling  that  they  have  chosen. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers 
in  1 90 1  ten  thousand  dollars  was  voted  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  building  for  the  school,  at  the  request  of  the 
local  committee,  who  were  to  provide  ground  for  the 
site.  A  question  as  to  locality  has  postponed  its  erec- 
tion, but  it  is  hoped  that  in  the  near  future  a  structure 
will  arise  suitable  for  the  housing  of  this  excellent 
institution. 

TRAINING-SCHOOL    FOR   COLORED   GIRLS 

A  small  beginning  of  what  is  believed  to  be  a 
much-needed  work  is  the  provision  made  by  a  colored 
minister  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Rev.  W.  H.  Riley,  for 
the  training  of  young  women  of  his  own  race  who 


Work  in  Cities  237 

wish  to  do  deaconess  work  among  their  own  people. 
Of  his  own  volition,  heartily  seconded  by  his  wife's 
efforts,  and  with  little  financial  assistance,  he  made 
the  venture,  and  has  received  indorsement  and  en- 
couragement from  Bishop  Thoburn,  Mrs.  I.  D.  Jones, 
and  others  in  the  city.  In  190 1  a  small  appropria- 
tion to  this  infant  enterprise  was  made  by  the  Woman's 
Home  IMissionary  Society.  Mr.  Riley  is  a  competent 
instructor,  having  been  trained  in  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary.  He  has  made  a  strong  effort  to  arouse  in- 
terest and  activity  in  the  work  of  this  training-school 
among  the  colored  Churches  of  that  vicinity. 

REST    HOMES 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1900,  a^t  Chicago,  all 
Rest  Homes  were  put,  by  action  of  the  Board,  under 
the  supervision  of  Mrs.  P.  D.  Perchment,  of  Pitts- 
burg. A  better  selection  could  not  have  been  made. 
She  is  like  that  Lydia,  "whose  heart  the  Lord  opened." 

BANCROFT    REST    HOME 

To  provide  a  place  of  rest  for  weary  missionaries 
and  deaconesses,  under  the  influence  of  spiritual  asso- 
ciations and  within  reach  of  invigorating  sea  breezes, 
some  noble  women  of  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  led  by  Mrs. 
Anna  Kent  and  Mrs.  W.  F.  Day,  opened  there  in  the 


238  Twenty  Years'  History 

summer  of  1896,  in  a  rented  house,  the  first  Rest  Home 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  This  was 
received  with  such  grateful  appreciation  by  the  mis- 
sionaries and  such  favorable  commendation  by  the 
public  that  at  the  close  of  the  second  season,  1897,  a 
property  was  secured  for  a  permanent  Rest  Home. 
Two  lots,  with  a  cottage  which  had  been  owned  and 
occupied  by  the  parents  of  Mrs.  Robinson  and  Miss 
Bancroft,  were  bought,  one  thousand  dollars  of  the 
purchase  money  being  donated  by  these  sisters  as  a 
memorial.  It  was  named  "Bancroft  Rest  Home," 
large  additions  and  improvements  were  made,  and  it 
was  dedicated  with  impressive  ceremonies  July  10, 
1899.  Dr.  George  Elliott  said  in  his  dedicatory  ad- 
dress, "The  religious  feeling  which  offers  such  a  place 
as  this  to  God  is  deeper  than  that  which  builds  a 
temple." 

The  domestic  service  in  this  Home  has  been  very 
satisfactorily  provided  by  girls  from  Ritter  Home  and 
the  New  Jersey  Home. 

In  1901  two  lots  adjoining  were  added  to  the  prop- 
erty, thus  securing  a  continued  outlook  upon  the  little 
park  of  pines  near  by.  This  large,  beautiful,  airy 
Home,  which  has  been  the  summer  Mecca  of  many 
a  tired  worker,  was  kept  open  for  the  first  time  in 
the  winter  of  1901  and  1902. 

Entertainment  in  this  Home  is  furnished  to  dea- 


Work  in  Cities  239 

conesses  and  missionaries  at  the  lowest  practicable 
rates,  and  Churches,  Auxiliaries,  and  individuals  are 
usually  found  willing  to  supply  the  needed  funds  for 
this  purpose. 

THE  CAROLINE  REST   HOME 

A  small  furnished  cottage,  beautifully  located  on 
the  historic  Round  Lake  Camp-ground,  is  also  a  me- 
morial of  Caroline  Orton  Bancroft,  the  mother  of  Mrs. 
Jane  Bancroft  Robinson.  It  was  presented  to  the 
Troy  Conference,  and  serves  a  similar  purpose  at  this 
resort  as  the  Bancroft  Rest  provides  at  Ocean  Grove. 

THE  THOMPSON    REST   HOAIE 

Is  situated  at  Mountain  Lake  Park,  Aid.,  that  wonder- 
ful health-giving  spot  on  the  top  of  the  Alleghenies. 
In  July,  1899,  a  committee  of  ladies  decided  to  pur- 
chase the  summer  home  of  the  sainted  ''Father"  John 
Thompson,  and  to  dedicate  it  to  the  physical  recupera- 
tion of  tired-out  missionaries  and  deaconesses.  This 
provision  has  proved  a  blessing  to  many,  and  has  been 
the  special  care  of  Mrs.  S.  W.  Davis,  of  Wilkinsburg, 
Pa.,  whose  mother,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Stone,  of  Wheeling, 
W.  Va.,  has  been  one  of  its  most  active  supporters. 
Mrs.  Clara  L.  Roach  and  ladies  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference have  also  taken  sincere  interest  in  Thompson 
Rest  Home. 


240  Twenty  Years'  History 

the:  e:IvVira  olney  rest  cottage,  at  ludington, 
michigan 

This  Home  is  situated  at  Epworth  Heights  As- 
sembly-grounds, on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  It 
is  a  cozy  cottage  of  eight  rooms,  comfortably  fur- 
nished, and  nestled  in  a  grove  of  pine-trees,  and  is  the 
result  of  the  generous  response  of  friends  to  an  ap- 
peal made  by  Mrs.  Robinson  during  the  summer  of 
1901.  It  is  under  the  special  oversight  of  the  officers 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Michigan  Conference,  and  to  it  Mrs.  Levi  Master  has 
given  her  fostering  care. 

DISABLED  AND  SUPERANNUATED  DEACONESSES 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  has  been 
called  upon  to  care  for  but  a  few  of  these ;  but  the 
deaconess  who,  on  the  basis  of  a  bare  support  has 
trusted  her  future  to  its  keeping,  has  a  right  to  look 
to  it  for  care  and  maintainance  when  she  can  no 
longer  render  active  service.  Certain  propositions  were 
approved  by  the  General  Board  of  Managers  in  1901, 
looking  towards  the  accumulation  of  a  fund  for  this 
object. 
V  BUREAU  FOR  PORTO  RICO 

The  Bureau  for  Porto  Rico,  formed  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  in  1901,  is  an  offshoot  of  the  Deaconess  Bu- 


Work  in  Cities  241 

reau,  as  up  to  that  time  the  Porto  Rican  work  (as  was 
also  the  work  in  Hawaii)  had  been  initiated  and  admin- 
istered as  a  Committee  of  that  Bureau  and  had  been 
served  by  deaconess  workers.  Mrs.  May  Leonard 
Woodruff  was  appointed  Bureau  Secretary.  A  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  A.  B.  Leonard,  the  distinguished  Mis- 
sionary Secretary  of  the  Parent  Board,  she  began  her 
active  missionary  career  as  Superintendent  of  Glenn 
Home  in  Cincinnati.  Upon  the  resignation  of  Mrs. 
Mary  T.  Lodge,  in  1891,  from  the  Bureau  for 
Supplies,  she  accepted  that  trust,  which  she  faithfully 
discharged  until  called  away  by  the  illness  of  her 
mother.  Her  services  to  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  have  been  so  varied  and  general  as 
to  deserve  special  mention.  Perhaps  as  General  Organ- 
izer she  has  served  it  best,  her  voice  having  been 
heard  in  eloquent  speech  and  melodious  song  in  many 
States  of  the  Union,  including  our  new  island  pos- 
session, Porto  Rico.  In  supervising  this  Bureau  she 
has  consecrated  her  energies  to  the  work  of  sending 
a  pure  gospel  to  ''follow  the  flag"  in  this  benighted 
land. 

SAN   JUAN,   PORTO   RICO 

The  island  of  Porto  Rico  came  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  as  a  result  of  the  war  of 
1898  and  1899  between  this  country  and  Spain.     ''It 

has  a  population  of  953,243,  of  whom  more  than  three- 
17 


242  Twenty  Years'  History 

fifths  are  white  and  two-fifths  partly  or  entirely  Negro. 
Of  this  number  792,984  persons  are  unable  to  read  in 
any  language."  There  are  two  hundred  and  sixty-four 
inhabitants  to  the  square  mile.  Although  the  soil  is 
among  the  most  fertile  on  the  globe,  the  natives  are 
abjectly  poor,  and  live  in  idleness,  squalor,  and  filth. 
As  indicating  the  low  moral  tone  of  the  people,  it  is 
stated  that  'Very  few  think  it  necessary  to  have  the 
marriage  ceremony  performed,"  and  "seventy-one  per 
cent  of  the  children  born  do  not  know  the  faces  of 
their  own  fathers." 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  sent  two 
deaconess  workers  to  San  Juan  in  1900  to  co-operate 
with  Dr.  C.  W.  Drees,  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  there. 
These  were  Miss  Sarah  P.  White,  of  the  Pittsburg 
Deaconess  Home,  and  Miss  Isabel  F.  Horton,  of  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  a  graduate  of  the  Washington  Training-school. 
A  year  later.  Miss  Alice  McKinney,  a  deaconess  of 
Iowa,  was  sent  to  their  assistance. 

Mrs.  Woodruff  visited  this  work  as  Secretary 
of  the  Bureau  in  March,  1902,  and  attended  the 
first  session  of  the  Porto  Rican  Mission  Confer- 
ence in  San  Juan,  presided  over  by  Bishop  Wal- 
den.  It  consisted  of  eight  ministers,  with  Dr.  Drees 
as  Superintendent.  There  were  six  hundred  and 
seventy-four  communicants,  four  central  stations,  and 


Work  in  Cities  243 

fifteen  preaching  places.  In  San  Juan  there  are  two 
churches — one  for  Spanish  and  one  for  English  speak- 
ing people.  The  deaconesses  devote  themselves  mainly 
to  Spanish  work.  The  Deaconess  Home,  which  was 
already  occupied  by  them,  was  formally  dedicated 
March  11,  1902,  by  Mrs.  Woodruff,  assisted  by  Mrs. 
Walden,  and  in  the  presence  of  about  one  hundred 
persons,  members  of  all  the  Protestant  missions  in  the 
city,  who  had  been  invited  to  attend. 

A  sewing-school  meets  weekly  in  the  Deaconess 
Home,  and  another  in  a  suburb  numbers  sixty.  A 
day-school,  known  as  the  ''McKinley  Free  School,"  con- 
ducted by  Miss  McKinney,  the  deaconess,  is  composed 
of  children  too  poor  to  attend  the  public  schools.  A 
special  fund  is  solicited  for  the  support  of  this  school, 
fifteen  dollars  per  year  being  sufficient  to  keep  a  boy 
or  girl  under  its  tutelage. 

At  Arecibo,  fifty  miles  northwest  of  San  Juan, 
there  has  been  an  orphanage  cared  for  by  a  lady  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  whose  health 
having  failed  she  desired  to  transfer  her  charge  to  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  It  was  not 
thought  best  to  accept  the  property,  as  the  district 
proved  unhealthy  for  the  workers ;  but  six  of  these 
children  have  been  received  at  San  Juan,  where  an 
Industrial  Home  and  Orphanage  will  be  combined 
with  the  Deaconess  Home. 


y- 


244  Twenty  Years'  History 

SOME  OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  LOCAL  BUREAU 

There  are  certain  centers  of  mission  work  which 
were  begun  under  the  ''Local  Bureau"  that  have  so 
outgrown  their  beginnings,  and  have  taken  on  such 
distinctive  and  individual  characteristics,  that  they 
may  not  be  classed  with  any  of  the  existing  Bureaus 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  but  must 
stand  upon  a  footing  of  their  own.  Such  Homes  are 
in  charge  of  "Standing  Committees"  and  are  reported 
annually  by  the  chairman  to  the  General  Board  of 
Managers.  Among  such  may  be  named  the  Glenn 
Home,  Cincinnati,  O. ;  Marcy  Home,  Chicago,  111. ;  and 
the  Medical  Mission,  North  Boston,  Mass. 

GLKNN   HOME^  CINCINNATI,  OHIO 

The  Glenn  Industrial  Home  was  named  in  memory 
of  William  Glenn,  a  devout  and  honored  layman  of 
Cincinnati,  who  left  a  legacy  of  one  thousand  dollars 
as  the  foundation  of  this  work.  His  daughter,  Mrs. 
Richard  Dymond,  and  other  friends  in  Cincinnati, 
added  to  this  by  other  gifts,  and  a  handsome  brown 
stone-front  residence  of  fifteen  rooms,  with  a  large 
two-story  brick  building  adjoining,  was  secured  at  the 
*'West  End"  at  a  price  less  than  half  the  cost  of  the 
building.  Here  was  inaugurated,  April  i,  1891,  what 
has  proved  to  be  a  model  city  mission;  its  object,  the 


Work  in  Cities  245 

promotion  of  a  wise  Christian  charity,  and  of  indus- 
trial, social,  and  religious  instruction  ''by  all  practical 
methods." 

The  variety  and  value  of  the  "methods"  employed 
may  be  dimly  guessed  when  we  come  to  enumerate 
among  its  agencies :  three  separate  Kindergartens,  a 
Working  Girls'  Club,  Young  Men's  Club,  reading- 
room,  visits  made  in  parish  canvassing  averaging  two 
thousand  annually,  evangelistic  and  temperance  meet- 
ings, Mothers'  Meetings,  a  poor  closet,  sewing-classes, 
cooking-classes,  and  the  ''Glenn  Auxiliary  to  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society."  "Our  aim," 
says  the  Chairman,  "is  to  save  the  people,  that  they 
may  save  others." 

Those  housed  in  the  Home  are  cared  for  after  the 
plan  adopted  by  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciations, and  which  are  known  to  be  so  successful  in 
many  of  our  cities. 

Mrs.  I.  D.  Jones,  who  is  the  enthusiastic  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Glenn  Home,  has  been  for  many 
years  a  valued  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and 
a  many-sided  worker  for  Home  Missions. 

MARCY  HOME^  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

"What  are  you  doing  for  the  heathen  in  your  own 
city,  Chicago,"  was  the  question  which  stirred  the  hearts 
of  some  women  at  the  Desplaines  Camp-meeting  in  the 


246  Twenty  Years'  History 

fall  of  1886  after  listening  to  a  rousing  address  on  for- 
eign missions.  Mrs.  R.  W.  Salter,  Mrs.  W.  Hudson, 
and  Mrs.  E.  E.  Marcy  told  their  convictions  one  to 
another.  "Praise  the  Lord!"  said  one  of  them,  "and 
in  His  name  let  us  take  up  work  among  the  Bohemians, 
for  forty  thousand  of  them  and  twenty  thousand  Poles 
are  praying  to  pictures  on  the  streets." 

The  outgrowth  of  this  God-given  seed  was  Marcy 
Home,  which  bears  the  name  of  one  of  the  first  and 
most  valued  workers  in  the  Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary Society,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  E.  Marcy,  of  Evanston, 
111.  Her  early  devotion  to  the  Chicago  Training-school, 
developed  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Rider  Meyer,  contributed 
largely  towards  its  initial  successes,  and  when  later 
she  transferred  her  most  zealous  endeavors  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Bohemians  population,  living  compactly 
together  in  one  quarter  of  the  city,  her  zeal  and  energy 
were  a  guarantee  that  something  substantial  and 
beneficent  would  be  the  result.  Seven  years  after  the 
incipiency  of  this  project  we  find  a  building,  forty- 
eight  by  sixty-four  feet,  and  three  stories  high,  plain, 
well  planned,  convenient,  and  of  "neat  and  inviting 
simplicity,"  the  whole  property  worth  twenty-six  thou- 
sand dollars,  upon  which  nineteen  thousand  dollars 
had  been  paid.  "It  was,"  says  Mrs.  Marcy,  "the  first 
attempt  of  our  Society  to  establish  a  Home  in  the 
densely  populated  foreign  quarters  of  a  great  city." 


Work  in  Cities  247 

The  field  of  every  mission  work  offers  its  own  dis- 
tinctive environment  which  must  determine  its  plan 
of  action.  IMarcy  Home  was  inaugurated  in  connec- 
tion wdth  work  in  the  Bohemian  City  Mission,  but  with 
children  of  all  nationalities  thronging  the  streets  of 
the  neighborhood, — "one  hundred  thousand  children 
whose  feet  never  cross  the  threshold  of  a  Sunday- 
school," — distinctions  of  race  and  creed  were  soon  for- 
gotten. Only  the  English  language  is  used,  however, 
in  the  work  of  the  mission. 

The  ''Home  Bulletin,"  indicating  the  daily  occupa- 
tions of  the  workers  with  the  hours  of  service  allotted 
to  each  for  seven  days  in  the  week,  covers  a  wide  and 
comprehensive  schedule  of  instruction.  It  embraces 
classes  in  basket-making,  sloyd,  cooking,  dressmaking, 
embroidery,  piano,  singing,  drawing,  gymnastics,  and 
kitchengarden.  "We  help  these  poor,"  says  Mrs. 
]\Iarcy,  "not  by  what  we  give,  but  by  the  training  we 
can  furnish,  the  mental  and  moral  stimulus,  the  dex- 
terity of  hand,  and  the  skill  and  strength  of  purpose 
that  w^e  impart."  In  1899  more  than  twenty-one  hun- 
dred of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  Chicago  slums 
passed  through  the  classes — industrial,  social  and  re- 
ligious— of  this  Home. 

The  Marcy  Home  free  dispensary  is  a  landmark 
for  the  afflicted,  while  the  ]\Iercy  and  Help  Depart- 
ment carries  physical  comfort  to  the  unfortunate  and 


248  Twenty  Years'  History 

needy.  Religious  services  are  held  on  the  Sabbath 
and  in  the  evenings  of  the  week.  The  large  Sunday- 
school,  from  being  a  few  years  ago  "a  tumultuous  in- 
surgent band  of  untutored  children,"  has  come  to  be 
pronounced  ''the  most  orderly  Sunday-school  in  the 
city."  Many  of  the  "roughs" — boys  and  girls — who 
came  under  the  influence  of  this  mission  at  its  begin- 
ning, are  now  active  Church  workers,  engaged  in  res- 
cuing others.  The  property,  as  improved,  is  rated  at 
forty  thousand  dollars. 

Miss  Bertha  Fowler,  since  March,  1898,  Superin- 
tendent of  this  Home,  with  eight  resident  helpers,  is 
a  most  efficient  worker. 

Mrs.  Marcy  continued  until  1898  as  Chairman  of 
Marcy  Home,  when  she  resigned  because  of  failing 
health,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mrs.  O.  H.  Horton. 

MliDICAIv   MISSION^   NORTH   BOSTON^   MASS. 

The  Medical  Mission,  situated  in  a  densely-popu- 
lated district  of  North  Boston,  ministers  to  a  large 
number  of  beneficiaries,  mainly  foreigners,  Russian 
Jews,  Italians,  and  Portuguese  predominating.  It  was 
opened  in  connection  with  the  Epworth  League  Settle- 
ment in  Hull  Street,  October  19,  1894,  by  Miss  Har- 
riette  J.  Cooke,  formery  Professor  of  History  in  Cor- 
nell College,  Iowa,  after  three  years  spent  abroad,  prin- 
cipally at  Mildmay,  London,  where  she  investigated 


Work  in  Cities  249 

methods  of  work  with  special  reference  to  medical  mis- 
sions. In  i8y5  the  work  was  adopted  by  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  and  was  the  first  of  its  kind 
in  the  Society.  The  expense  of  its  maintenance,  how- 
ever, has  been  entirely  carried  by  the  New  England 
Conference. 

Some  of  the  best  physicians  in  the  city  have  cheer- 
fully given  their  services,  and  over  seven  thousand 
patients  have  been  more  than  once  recorded  as  the  re- 
port of  a  year's  work.  From  a  state  of  bitter  hostility 
at  the  first,  the  attitude  of  the  people  has  been  changed 
to  that  of  grateful  appreciation.  A  spirit  of  enlighten- 
ment has  permeated  the  community,  and  the  barriers 
between  Jew  and  Gentile,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  are 
being  broken  down,  as  an  evidence  of  which  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Executive  Committee  cites  the  fact  that 
whereas  "six  years  ago  the  parochial  school  building- 
was  full  to  overflowing,  it  is  now  rented  and  used  as 
a  public  school." 

At  Miss  Cooke's  instigation  a  colored  girl  was  sent 
from  Boylan  Home  to  rake  nurse-training  in  this  mis- 
sion. This  was  one  of  the  initial  steps  which  later  led 
to  the  establishment  of  a  Nurse-training  Department 
at  Boylan. 

A  large  new  building  on  a  valuable  lot,  a  property 
worth  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  has  been  erected 
for   this    Medical    Mission   as   the   Twentieth-centurv 


250  Twenty  Years'  History 

offering  of  the  generous  people  of  New  England  Con- 
ference, and  Miss  Cooke,  the  noble  founder,  was  con- 
tinued as  the  beloved  and  honored  Superintendent. 

IN  baIvTimore:^  md. 

At  Mt.  Tabor,  a  missionary  district  in  this  city,  a 
remarkable  example  of  local  mission  work  materialized 
in  1900  in  a  beautiful  "Industrial  Building"  of  gray 
granite,  costing  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  devoted 
to  numerous  lines  of  Christian  endeavor  for  the  poor 
and  neglected  classes  surrounding  it.  It  accommodates 
various  departments  of  mission  work,  including  rooms 
for  kindergarten,  industrial  training.  Mothers'  Meet- 
ings, and  a  hall  for  public  worship.  i\s  Bohemians 
predominate  in  the  neighborhood,  a  pastor  of  that 
nationality  was  installed  in  the  neat  parsonage  adjoin- 
ing. "This  is  the  largest  building  of  the  kind  in  Amer- 
ican Methodism,  and  the  only  one  where  the  Settle- 
ment work  is  so  housed." 

Mrs.  Dr.  John  Neff,  of  Baltimore,  was  the  prime 
mover  in  this  enterprise.    But  for  her  it  had  not  been. 

BUREAU  FOR  IMMIGRANTS 

The  same  year  (1888)  that  marked  the  introduction 
of  the  "Deaconess  Committee"  into  the  machinery  of 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  saw  also  the 
advent  of  the  "Bureau  for  Immigrants." 


Work  in  Cities  251 

This  Bureau  has  been  the  successful  charge  of  some 
of  the  most  gifted  and  consecrated  daughters  of  Meth- 
odism. Mrs.  Kennard  Chandler,  of  New  York,  the 
first  Secretary,  was  followed  by  Mrs.  Jennie  F.  Wil- 
ling, both  of  whom  have  also  given  many  years  of  elo- 
quent speech  to  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety and  other  kindred  forms  of  service.  An  interim 
was  efficiently  filled  by  Mrs.  John  D.  Slayback,  of  New 
York,  whose  name  has  ever  been  a  synonym  for  large 
and  generous  things.  In  1894,  Mrs.  George  Mansfield 
accepted  the  Bureau.  Capable  in  administration,  she 
was  also  strong  and  convincing  in  appeal  and  argu- 
ment. In  the  midst  of  her  usefulness,  December  5, 
1899,  she  was  called  to  lay  down  the  cross  of  service 
to  go  up  to  be  crowned,  a  conqueror  at  the  right  hand 
of  her  Lord. 

She  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Mary  W.  Perry,  of 
Maiden,  Mass.,  who  had  been  providentially  prepared 
for  the  position  by  previous  association  with  the  work- 
ers of  the  Bureau. 

IMMIGRANT  WORK  IN  NEW  YORK 

Previous  to  the  formation  of  the  Bureau  in  1888 
work  for  immigrants  had  been  begun  in  a  small  way  at 
Castle  Garden,  New  York  City.  Four  hundred  thousand 
immigrants  were  landed  on  our  shores  during  that  year, 
and  since  that  time,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the 


252  Twenty  Years'  History 

best  statisticians,  an  average  of  half  a  million  annually 
have  been  added  to  our  population  from  the  foreign 
born.  These  have  come  to  us  bringing  with  them  their 
Old  World  superstition,  idolatry,  Sabbath-breaking, 
and  anarchy,  which  so  jeopardize  our  Christian  civiliza- 
tion as  to  make  the  stoutest  heart  of  statesman  and 
philanthropist  alike  to  quail.  Pondering  the  Master's 
commission,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,"  we  lift  our 
eyes  to  see  *'all  the  world"  pouring  its  populations 
through  our  open  gates.  Bishop  Vincent  wrote  some 
years  ago,  ''Our  own  coasts  are  crowded  with  the  for- 
eign subjects  we  cross  the  sea  to  seek  and  save."  And 
Bishop  Taylor  said,  ''For  every  missionary  sent  abroad 
God  has  sent  ten  thousand  heathen  to  our  own  land." 
Bishop  Wiley,  Bishop  Thoburn,  and  Dr.  Reid,  Mission- 
ary Secretary,  might  each  be  quoted  as  sounding  a  note 
of  warning  to  the  Church  to  be  on  guard  to  stem  the 
flood  of  evil  thus  threatening  to  engulf  our  country. 

But  not  all  are  vicious,  and  preventive  philanthropy 
is  better  than  rescue  work.  A  moral  lighthouse  on  the 
coast  might  help  many  a  buffeted  soul  into  a  safe 
harbor.  Bishop  Hurst,  in  an  earnest  appeal,  exclaimed, 
"Every  beating  wave  that  throbs  upon  our  shores 
brings  the  immigrant  girl !"  In  one  year  eighty  thou- 
sand girls  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  twenty-five 
passed  through  Castle  Garden,  and  this  may  be  taken 
as  a  fair  average.    Of  these  it  was  then  estimated  that 


Work  in  Cities  253 

one  in  every  ten  was  lost  in  the  maelstrom  of  the  great 
city.  Wicked  men  and  women  lie  in  wait  for  them 
as  they  come — ignorant,  innocent,  and  unsuspecting — 
and  too  often  they  walk  straight  into  the  traps  prepared 
for  their  unwary  feet. 

The  Christian  women  of  New  York  were  aroused, 
and  began  to  cast  about  for  a  plan  of  action.  In  1886, 
Miss  jMartha  Van  Marter,  then  the  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  New  York  Conference,  found  Rev. 
James  IMathews,  pastor  of  the  "Battery  Park  Mission," 
under  the  care  of  the  New  York  City  Church  Exten- 
sion Society,  and  his  wife,  Airs.  Helen  A.  Mathew^s, 
distributing  tracts  among  the  immigrants.  With  this 
as  a  germ  of  suggestion,  a  plan  was  developed.  Mrs. 
Mathews,  already  intensely  interested,  was  regularly 
employed  by  the  ladies  to  devote  herself  entirely  to  this 
work.  In  January,  1888,  an  "Immigrant  Girls'  Lodg- 
ing-house" was  opened  on  State  Street,  near  Castle 
Garden,  and  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  General 
Board  of  Managers  at  Boston  in  November  of  that 
year  the  Home  was  adopted  and  the  formation  of  the 
Bureau  authorized,  as  has  been  stated.  The  action  of 
the  Board  specified  that  until  further  legislation  the 
work  of  the  Bureau  should  be  confined  to  the  Atlantic 
ports. 

As  "nine-tenths  of  all  the  immigrants  arriving  in 
this  country  are  landed  at  the  port  of  New  York,"  the 


2^4  Twenty  Years^  History 

interest  of  this  Bureau  largely  centered  at  Castle  Gar- 
den, where  for  many  years  the  immigrants  were  re- 
ceived. It  was  realized  that  this  was  no  mere  local 
mission,  and,  although  superintended  by  a  local  ''Board 
of  Management,"  that  all  the  Church  must  help  to 
care  for  the  Home  there  established.  In  the  year 
ending  October,  1890,  three  thousand  girls  and  women 
were  protected  and  helped  through  this  agency.  Says 
one  of  the  Secretaries :  "The  field  is  not  limited  by 
square  feet.  Hundreds  here  may  be  helped  to  better 
and  purer  lives,  who,  if  neglected,  will  be  left  to  Satan's 
wiles.  They  pass  this  way  but  once."  Food  and 
shelter  were  temporarily  provided,  information  given, 
and  homes  and  employment  found  for  the  unfortunate 
and  poor.  Sometimes  whole  families  have  been  helped 
out  of  desperate  straits  into  which  they  had  fallen 
through  their  utter  ignorance  of  the  conditions  await- 
ing them  in  this  New  World,  the  El  Dorado  of  their 
dreams.  Some,  imagining  that  Chicago,  or  Montana, 
or  Denver,  where  they  may  have  had  a  friend  or  rela- 
tive expecting  them,  was  next  door  to  New  York  City, 
have  landed  there  without  a  dollar  or  an  acquaintance 
to  meet  them.  Most  frequently  those  assisted  have 
been  helpless  young  women  coming  to  seek  work  and 
a  home,  and  many  such  have  been  snatched  from  the 
snares  of  sin  when  their  feet  had  well-nigh  slipped. 
A  father  wrote  the  Superintendent  of  the  Home:  "I 


Work  in  Cities  255 

thank  my  God  whom  I  serve  that  you  found  my  daugh- 
ter when  she  was  friendless  and  alone  in  that  great 
city !"  To  such  the  Home  has  been  for  eleven  years 
a  beacon-light,  a  "Bethel  to  the  soul,  a  harbor  of  refuge 
to  the  body,  and  a  starting-point  for  a  new  and  better 
Ufe." 

While  alms  to  the  penniless  have  not  been  denied, 
and  the  "cup  of  cold  water"  given  in  Christ's  name 
has  often  been  a  good  dinner  and  well-filled  lunch- 
box,  the  wisdom  of  self-support  has  been  inculcated, 
and  a  large  majority  of  the  meals  and  lodgings  fur- 
nished the  temporary  sojourners  have  been  paid  for 
at  a  moderate  rate. 

Of  the  missionaries  who  had  charge  of  this  de- 
partment at  the  beginning  of  the  work,  Mrs.  Chandler 
says,  "God  has  given  us  women  who  give  evidence  of 
being  called  to  this  special  phase  of  work ;"  and  Mrs. 
Willing,  in  1890,  wrote,  "All  our  workers  have  labored 
indefatigably  and  conscientiously."  Mrs.  Helen  A. 
Mathews  was  the  first  incumbent,  and  remained  at  her 
post  till  1 89 1,  when  failing  health  compelled  her  to 
resign,  when  she  was  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Emeline 
Smith,  who  served  for  a  short  time.  The  position  is 
no  sinecure.  On  an  average  they  meet  two  steamers 
a  day,  spending  long  hours  at  the  barge  office  in  the 
most  disagreeable  contacts  and  in  situations  requiring 
the  exercise  of  unusual  patience  and  discrimination. 


256  Twenty  Years'  History 

Mrs.  George  W.  Mansfield  in  1896  added  her  meed 
of  praise :  "They  are  not  behind  the  missionaries  of 
other  Churches  in  tact  and  bravery  to  defend  the  right." 
She  also  commended  *'the  keen  and  often  adroit  meas- 
ures by  which  they  sift  iniquity  and  help  the  deluded." 

Especially  was  this  work  laborious  during  the 
cholera  quarantine  of  1892,  and  when  the  fire  at  Ellis 
Island,  in  1897,  swept  the  Government  buildings  there 
out  of  existence.  There  were  two  hundred  immigrants 
detained  on  the  island  at  the  latter  time,  to  whom  the 
devoted  missionary,  Miss  Alma  Mathews,  strong  and 
kind  and  tactful,  was  a  sister  of  mercy,  quelling  panic 
and  giving  wise  counsel.  Miss  Mathews  was  Matron 
of  this  Home  in  the  early  years  of  the  work,  and  since 
1 89 1  has  been  the  missionary  in  charge,  proving  her- 
self the  right  woman  in  the  right  place. 

The  Society,  through  the  efforts  of  these  wise 
women  and  others,  has  won  for  itself  a  creditable 
record  in  connection  with  this  immigrant  work.  When 
the  movement  began  many  obstacles  wxre  laid  in  its 
way.  The  Government  officials  gave  it  scant  welcome, 
and  the  Roman  Catholics  much  less.  Mr.  Mathews, 
in  reporting  the  work  for  his  invalid  wife  in  1891, 
wrote  of  ''the  Jesuitical  rule  and  the  obscenity  and 
brutality  practiced  upon  the  immigrants  when  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  began  its  work 
there,"  and  speaks  of  "step  after  step  being  taken  till 


BUREAU  SECRETARIES. 

1.  Mrs.  E.  W.  Simi-son.  8.  Mrs.  Levi  Gilhert. 

2.  Mrs.  M.  B.  Hag\ns.  9.  Mrs.  Geo.  E.  Reed. 

3.  Mrs.  S.  B.  Potter.  10.  Mrs.  May  Leonard  Woodritf, 

4.  Mrs.  H.  C.  Hedces.  ii.  Mrs.  M.  C.  Alsi-aicii. 

5.  Mrs.  Lavanda  (i.  Miki'iiv.      12.  Mrs.  H.  C.  Jennincs. 

6.  Mrs.  L.  P.  Wii.iiams.  13.  Mrs.  Jknnie'F.  Wii.lim;. 

7.  Mrs.  a.  M.  Whitso.n. 


Work  in  Cities  257 

the  United  States  Government  had  been  aroused  to 
take  the  business  into  its  own  hands,  and  a  grand  revo- 
hition"  had  been  effected.  The  missionaries  steadily 
gained  favor ;  they  were  given  the  right  of  way  within 
the  hne  at  the  landing-place,  lockers  were  assigned 
them  in  which  was  kept  for  distribution  a  supply  of 
Bibles  and  tracts  in  many  languages,  strangers  were 
not  permitted  to  take  away  girls  without  investigation, 
and  the  officials  manifested  a  sincere  purpose  to  assist 
the  missionaries  in  their  work  of  protection  and  relief. 

But  the  rented  house  in  which  the  Home  was  lodged 
was  lamentably  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  enter- 
prise. It  was  limited  to  the  third  and  fourth  floors  of 
the  building  at  2^  State  Street,  and  the  Committee  de- 
sired to  purchase  the  wdiole  property.  The  Port  Com- 
missioner echoed  the  wish  of  the  missionaries  when 
he  said:  "Your  Society  should  have  an  entire  house; 
your  work  is  so  important  and  far-reaching.  You 
ought  not  to  have  to  take  the  poor  women  up  three 
flights  of  stairs.  Surely  the  Society  would  build  you 
a  Home  if  they  knew  how  much  good  you  were  doing." 
And  another  observer  adds,  "Instead  of  two  mission- 
aries, you  ought  to  have  a  hundred."  In  this  build- 
ing, in  1890,  they  had  "sixteen  beds,  with  cots  and 
extra  bedding"  for  emergencies. 

It  is  pathetic  to  mark  the  appeals  made  through 
the  Bureau  year  after  year  for  a  better  building.  The 
18 


258  Twenty  Years'  History 

old  one  was  ''absolutely  uninhabitable."  It  was  neces- 
sary that  they  remain  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Gov- 
ernment offices,  but  "rents  at  the  Battery  were  so  enor- 
mous as  to  be  appalling,  and  prices  for  property  al- 
most fabulous."  Sixty  thousand  dollars  were  asked 
for,  and  a  considerable  sum  was  conditionally  appro- 
priated for  several  years  in  succession  without  ap- 
preciable results.  The  burden  of  pleading  became, 
"not  a  prayer  for  laborers,  but  for  a  harvest  of  gold, 
for  a  house  to  shelter  the  laborers"  and  their  charges. 
The  Lord's  hand  was  not  shortened ;  but  the  purses 
of  the  Lord's  stewards  did  not  yield  to  the  pressure. 

Apart  from  the  consideration  of  the  great  expense 
involved  in  the  purchase  of  property  in  this  section  of 
New  York,  there  was  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  per- 
manent location  of  the  Government  buildings.  Cus- 
tom-house, etc.  In  1 89 1  the  receiving  office  was  re- 
moved to  Ellis  Island,  and  the  barge  office  to  the  foot  of 
State  Street.  Then  it  was  deemed  best  to  maintain  the 
mission  as  in  the  past,  without  change  of  quarters,  until 
something  really  desirable  could  be  secured,  one  of  the 
ladies  continuing  to  superintend  the  Home,  and  the 
other  going  daily  to  the  island  to  meet  incoming  ships. 
In  1896  the  house  at  2"]  State  Street  was  repaired  and 
made  more  comfortable. 

In  May,  1898,  under  the  efficient  leadership  of  Mrs. 
J.   D.    Slayback,   who   has   long   been   the   competent 


Work  in  Cities  259 

Chairman  of  the  Local  Committee,  the  Home  was  re- 
moved to  No.  9  State  Street,  opposite  the  barge  office. 
This  is  a  commodious  five-story  house,  well  adapted 
to  the  work,  and  with  the  enlarged  accommodations 
there  has  been  an  increase  of  inmates.  Miss  Mathews, 
during  the  year  ending  October,  1900,  met  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  steamers,  and  the  Home  fur- 
nished meals  to  sixteen  thousand  one  hundred  and 
twelve,  and  lodgings  to  four  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  thirteen.  Mrs.  H.  C.  Waite,  the  Superintendent 
and  Matron,  having  failed  in  health,  w^as  succeeded  by 
Miss  Josephine  Corbin,  the  well-known  deaconess. 

With  the  new  setting,  the  Home  has  taken  on  a 
new  lease  of  life  and  activity.  Interest  in  the  city  in 
the  work  has  greatly  increased,  and  rooms  have  been 
furnished  and  named  by  individuals  and  Churches. 
The  New  York  Conference  Society  has  always  made 
this  enterprise  "the  child  of  its  tenderest  care."  These 
noble  W'Omen  of  New  \"ork  and  vicinity  do  not  seem 
to  remember  that  the  work  of  the  Immigrant  Bureau 
is  national  in  its  scope,  and  that  the  seed  here  sown 
may  be  borne  away  to  yield  its  harvest  in  distant  States 
and  cities  wherever  the  immigrant  may  seek  her  home, 
but  they  freely  give  themselves  to  this  work  with  all 
the  ardor  due  to  a  local  institution.  The  Lord  will  re- 
ward them  in  the  day  "when  he  cometh  to  make  up  his 
jewels." 


26o  Twenty  Years'  History 

ITALIAN    WORK 

A  large  proportion  of  the  immigrants  arriving  at 
New  York,  the  ''gateway  of  the  Nation,"  are  ItaUans, 
and  "Little  Italy"  is  a  recognized  factor  in  the  perma- 
nent population  of  the  city.  A  report  of  1891  reads : 
"There  are' from  seventy-five  thousand  to  one  hundred 
thousand  Italians  in  New  York  City,  and  eighty  per 
cent  of  these  can  not  read  or  write.  There  are  but 
two  Protestant  Churches  among  them,  and  only  two 
Protestant  lady  missionaries  speaking  the  language." 

In  January,  1890,  a  mission  was  opened  among 
them  by  the  New  York  Conference  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  with  Miss  A.  C.  Ruddy  in  charge ; 
and  in  October,  1891,  by  action  of  the  General  Board 
of  Managers,  this  work  was  attached  to  the  Immigrant 
Bureau.  The  parlor  floor  of  a  house  in  the  Italian 
quarter  was  used  for  Sunday-school,  prayer-meetings, 
sewing-school,  etc.  In  another  house  the  Home  and 
Industrial  School  was  carried  on,  and  Miss  Ruddy  did 
house-to-house  visitation  and  evangelistic  work  in  the 
neighborhood.  So  active  and  aggressive  were  the 
measures  employed  that  it  was  sometimes  "at  the  peril 
of  her  life"  she  went  abroad,  while  to  those  who  knew 
and  believed  in  her  she  was  received  as  "an  angel  of 
mercy."     Miss  A.  Johansen  was  her  assistant.     Many 


Work  in  Cities  261 

conversions    were    reported    in    connection    with    this 
Itahan  Mission. 

When,  in  1894,  the  Watts  de  Peyster  property  was 
given  to  the  Society,  ''the  Home,  with  twenty  Itahan 
girls,"  was  transferred  to  that  beautiful  institution  at 
Tivoli  on  the  Hudson,  and  the  Italian  ^Mission  in  New 
York  was  passed  over  to  the  City  Church  Extension 
Society. 

EAST  BOSTON 

The  conditions  prevailing  at  the  port  of  entry  at 
Boston  were  similar  to  those  existing  at  New  York. 
Facing  the  wharves  on  Marginal  Street,  where  the 
Cunard  steamers  •  discharge  their  immigrant  freight, 
are  many  saloons,  some  with  signs  reading,  "House 
of  the  Stranger,"  "Pilgrim's  Rest,"  and  the  like,  to 
catch  the  eve  of  the  newlv-arrived.  Amons:  these 
places  wdiose  portals  marked  the  entrance  to  the  way 
of  death  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
planted  its  "house  of  hope." 

The  work  was  begun  in  1889  in  a  few  rooms  on 
Haines  Street,  hired  from  a  Swedish  family,  and  a 
little  later  it  was  removed  to  "a  good  house  of  twelve 
rooms"  on  Marginal  Street.  In  the  fall  of  that  year, 
Mrs.  Charles  W.  Pierce,  of  Boston,  pledged  five  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  purchase  of  a  building.  "This," 
says  the  Secretary,  "thrilled  our  hearts  with  its  promise 


262  Twenty  Years'  History 

and  its  prohpecy."  The  following  year  the  work  had 
assumed  "magnificent  proportions."  A  property  was 
secured  on  Marginal  Street  next  door  to  the  rented 
house  then  occupied,  consisting  of  a  double  house  hav- 
ing two  saloons  on  the  first  floor,  with  fourteen  rooms 
above  in  each.  As  soon  as  the  premises  could  be  put 
in  order,  one-half  the  building  was  occupied  by  the 
Home,  and  the  other  half  being  rented,  the  income  was 
utilized  to  pay  interest  on  money  borrowed  and  for 
other  expenses.  With  the  repairs  which  it  had  been 
necessary  to  make  the  cost  of  the  property  amounted 
to  seventeen  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
Most  of  the  fixtures  and  furnishings  had  been  gener- 
ously donated. 

The  ladies  of  the  New  England  Conference  admin- 
istered the  affairs  of  this  Home  with  characteristic  zeal 
and  energy  and  wise  economy,  and  still  continue  their 
interest  unabated.  In  1892  they  raised  six  thousand 
dollars  on  the  debt,  mostly  through  the  "Bee-hive" 
mite-boxes.  Mrs.  W.  E.  Dwight  distinguished  herself 
in  this  work,  and  justly  won  the  title  of  the  "Queen 
Mother  of  the  Busy  Bees."  Mrs.  V.  A.  Cooper  secured 
two  thousand  dollars,  also,  from  Boston  merchants  and 
friends.  As  the  General  Board  of  Managers  had  the 
previous  year  promised  the  payment  of  "the  last  six 
thousand  dollars"  on  the  existing  indebtedness,  the 
other  half  of  the  building  was  now  thoroughly  repaired. 


Work  in  Cities  263 

and  neat  and  wholesome;  the  entire  house  of  thirty- 
three  rooms,  inchiding  chapel  and  temperance  res- 
taurant was  dedicated  to  this  soul-saving  mission. 
Thirty  conversions  were  reported  this  year. 

Unlike  the  work  at  New  York,  of  which  it  is  said, 
''It  is  wholly  immigrant  work;  there  are  no  side  is- 
sues," the  workers  at  the  East  Boston  Home  do  a  large 
and  increasing  amount  of  outside  missionary  work. 
The  temperance  restaurant  is  a  notable  feature,  and 
much  good  temperance  work  has  been  done.  Sabbath 
morning  services  are  held  in  the  chapel  for  the  Swedes, 
of  whom  there  are  many  in  the  city.  They  also  hold 
social  meetings  in  the  Home  during  the  week.  A 
sewing-school  is  maintained,  in  which  any  who  may  be 
benefited  are  received;  at  one  time  seven  nationalities 
were  represented  in  it  with  forty  pupils.  The  "home 
idea"  is  inculcated,  and  the  girls  at  service  in  the  city, 
or  variously  employed,  who  have  had  in  the  past  the 
benefit  of  its  influence,  come  back  frequently  to  its  re- 
ligious services  or  to  spend  a  leisure  hour  on  holidays 
or  ''afternoons  out."  In  trouble  or  affliction  they  re- 
sort to  the  Home  "mother  ;"  and  some  have  been  buried 
from  the  chapel,  and  at  least  three  have  gone  out  from 
its  portals  with  her  blessing  on  their  bridal  vows. 

The  work  has  grown  in  many  directions.  As  many 
men,  perhaps,  are  permanently  benefited  as  women, 
and  the   large  house   is   filled   with   every   incoming 


264  Twenty  Years'  History 

steamer.  IMrs.  A.  C.  Clark,  who  has  been  Superin- 
tendent of  this  Home  since  its  inauguration,  has  ac- 
quitted herself  with  ability  and  success.  The  Immi- 
grant Commissioner  not  infrequently  commits  to  her 
care  cases  requiring  careful  consideration  and  adjust- 
ment, and  her  judicious  counsel  and  Christian  ministra- 
tions to  the  "strangers  within  the  gates"  have  been 
an  inestimable  blessing  to  many.  Being  a  Swede  by 
birth,  she  has  easy  access,  through  this  language,  to  a 
large  number  of  the  immigrants.  She  is  both  Superin- 
tendent and  missionary,  and  has  had  assistants  who 
are  consecrated  and  useful. 

PHILADELPHIA 

The  Philadelphia  Immigrant  Home  was  opened 
July,  1889,  I'l^^^  the  docks,  at  967  Otsego  Street,  within 
a  block  of  the  steamship  landing  and  immigrant  sta- 
tion. "It  was,"  to  quote  Mrs.  C.  W.  Bickley,  when 
reporting  its  advent,  "a  small  beginning  of  a  great 
undertaking,"  and  it  was  not  without  the  usual  oppo- 
sition and  discouragement  from  officials.  With  diffi- 
culty could  Mrs.  Goff  secure  a  pass  for  the  missionary 
to  visit  the  steamers,  one  declaring  that  it  would  "be 
impossible  for  women  to  work  in  such  a  place,"  and 
another  gave  the  ladies  just  one  month  in  which  to 
verify  his  prediction  of  failure.  But,  watching  their 
work,  these  officials  became  staunch  friends.     Miss 


Work  in  Cities  265 

Margaret  Boswell,  a  deaconess,  was  well  adapted  to 
this  service,  the  distinguishing  garb  of  her  office  prov- 
ing a  sure  passport  to  the  hearts  of  the  immigrant 
strangers.  Accustomed  to  the  peculiar  costumes  of  the 
religious  orders  in  foreign  lands,  they  turn  to  the 
women  of  the  "white  ties"  with  instinctive  confidence. 

In  1890,  in  a  rented  house  in  another  part  of  Phila- 
delphia, a  Deaconess  Home  was  opened,  which,  receiv- 
ing, two  years  later,  a  gift  from  Colonel  Bennett  of  a 
house,  611  Vine  Street,  worth  ten  thousand  dollars, 
and  an  additional  gift  from  the  same  source,  in  1894, 
of  the  adjoining  property,  609  Vine  Street,  soon  be- 
came a  stronghold  of  religious  work.  This  gave  to  the 
Philadelphia  Conference  two  fine  centers  of  Christian 
missionary  effort  under  the  direction  of  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  Society,  wdiich  were  in  time  har- 
moniously blended  into  virtual  union,  one  or  more 
deaconesses  being  constantly  detailed  from  the 
Deaconess  Home  for  work  at  the  docks  and  at  the 
Immigrant  Home  at  Otsego  Street. 

In  1890  the  reports  were  "most  encouraging,"  a 
great  variety  of  work  was  done — and  well  done.  The 
Italian  mission-rooms  of  the  Society  were  located  not 
far  away,  and  the  wretched  homes  in  the  courts  and 
alleys  of  the  Italian  quarter  shared  in  the  kindly  at- 
tentions of  the  missionaries. 

The  capacity  of  the  Home  was  doubled  in  1892  by 


266  Twenty  Years'  History 

renting  the  house  next  door,  and  changes  were  made 
by  which  a  room  in  the  building  was  set  apart  for  a 
chapel  and  schoolroom.  More  than  ever  now  it  became 
a  "home"  for  the  poor  foreigners  in  the  city,  who 
gladly  came  back  to  its  services,  drawn  by  the  memory 
of  the  sweet  spirit  of  love  and  kindness  that  had  there 
first  given  them  the  helping  hand  in  their  hour  of  need. 

In  1896  the  Home  received  its  baptism  of  fire,  when 
the  besom  of  flame  swept  away  all  buildings  surround- 
ing it,  and  ''yet  was  not  a  hair  singed  or  the  smell  of 
fire  passed  upon"  its  interior.  Thus  providentially 
spared,  it  freely  opened  its  doors  to  the  suffering  and 
unfortunate  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  year  following  (1897)  was  also  signalized  by 
some  peculiar  vicissitudes  for  the  Home.  The  Superin- 
tendent, Mrs.  L.  Buck  waiter,  had  been  a  missionary  in 
Africa  for  seven  years  previous  to  her  coming  to 
the  Home,  and  as  the  Parent  Board  in  the  summer  of 
1897  requested  her  return  and  that  of  her  husband  to 
this  work,  her  resignation  of  the  Superintendency  fol- 
lowed. Contagious  disease  became  epidemic  in  the 
neighborhood  about  this  time,  and  the  Home  was 
closed,  but  with  no  thought  of  permanence.  Although 
it  has  not  since  been  reopened,  no  abatement  in  the 
interest  of  the  work  has  been  allowed ;  but  with  the 
Deaconess  Home  as  a  base  of  operations  and  a  Board 


Work  in  Cities  267 

of  larg^e-hearted  women  at  the  helm,  the  cause  of  the 
immii^rant  has  been  zealously  cared  for. 

The  Immigrant  Homes  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  stand  like  moral  lighthouses  upon  our 
shores.  If  these  lamps  are  kept  trimmed  and  burn- 
ing, many  storm-tossed  souls  may  follow  their  beacon- 
lights  into  the  haven  of  peace.  And  blessed  are  they 
who  when  the  Master  comes  shall  hear  him  say,  "I 
was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  naked,  and  ye 
clothed  me ;  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat." 

BUREAU  FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  WORK 

''On  a  January  morning  in  1886,  in  the  drawing- 
room  of  Mrs.  W.  F.  Thorne,  Cincinnati,  O.,  Airs.  H.  C. 
McCabe  suggested  the  formation  of  a  Bureau  for 
Young  People's  \\'ork,"  is  the  record  we  read  in  an 
authentic  document  of  the  time.  Mrs.  Mary  B.  Ing- 
ham, of  Cleveland,  O.,  was  made  the  first  Secretary, 
and  with  energy  and  ability  entered  upon  her  work. 
At  the  succeeding  Annual  fleeting  seventy  organiza- 
tions were  reported.  Four  years  later  the  statement 
was  made,  *'The  growth  of  the  Bureau  has  been  a 
marvel." 

]\Irs.  Ingham  was  retained  as  Secretary  of  this 
Bureau,  except  for  an  interim  of  two  years,  when  yirs. 
M.  E.  Griffith,  of  Washington,   D.   C,   served,   until 


268  Twenty  Years'  History 

1896,  when  Mrs.  Ingham  resigned,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Mrs.  Samuel  Hazlett,  of  Washington,  Pa.  For 
four  years  Mrs.  Hazlett  devoted  to  this  department 
much  time  and  thought.  To  her  efforts  was  largely 
due  the  inauguration  of  the  little  paper.  Children's 
Home  Missions,  one  of  the  most  delightful  juvenile 
publications  of  the  day,  published  by  the  Society  and 
edited  by  Miss  Martha  Van  Marter.  This  was  ordered 
at  the  fourteenth  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Columbus, 
O.,  1895,  Mrs.  Hazlett  making  a  handsome  donation 
to  the  "Guaranty  Fund." 

In  October,  1900,  Mrs.  George  Edward  Reed,  wife 
ot  the  President  of  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa., 
accepted  the  care  of  the  Bureau,  and  took  up  the  work 
with  characteristic  enthusiasm.  The  department  was 
never  better  served  than  by  Mrs.  Reed. 

YOUNG  PEOPLE'$  SOCIETIES 

Recalling  Mordecai's  words  to  the  Persian  queen, 
surely  ''Thou  art  come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time 
as  this,"  the  resourceful  first  Secretary  of  the  Bureau 
made  them  the  keynote  of  her  message  to  the  young 
women  of  the  Church,  and,  as  a  consequence,  "Queen 
Esther  Circles,"  composed  of  young  girls  of  sixteen 
years  and  over,  were  inaugurated  all  through  the  Society. 
Antedating  this  time  many  Children's  Bands  had  been 
organized  by  individuals  without  the  connecting  bond  of 


Work  in  Cities  269 

a  Bureau,  prompted,  doubtless,  as  the  enthusiastic  Sec- 
retary suggests,  ''by  the  founder  of  our  glorious  order 
of  Mothers'  Jewels."  This  "founder"  was  none  other 
than  Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe,  who,  remembering  "Cor- 
nelia and  her  jewels,"  had  suggested,  in  the  first  issue 
of  her  paper,  IVoman's  Home  Missions,  January,  1884, 
that  children  under  seven  years  of  age  be  enrolled  as 
Mothers'  Jewels,  paying  ten  cents  a  year  into  the 
treasury  of  the  paper.  The  proposition  met  with  im- 
mediate favor,  and  when  a  Home  for  children  w^as 
proposed,  it  was  manifest  that  the  Children's  Fund  be- 
longed to  that  object  above  all  others,  and  to  that  it 
was  transferred. 

mothe:rs'  jewkivS  home: 

In  July  of  1886,  the  year  of  Mrs.  Ingham's  ap- 
pointment, the  first  dollar  for  a  Children's  Home  came 
from  a  Massachusetts  boy,  with  a  letter  asking  that 
other  boys  and  girls  be  requested  to  join  in  an  efifort 
to  "buy  a  farm  and  build  a  house"  for  homeless  chil- 
dren. 

In  1888  one  thousand  dollars  had  been  accumu- 
lated, and  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  under 
good  cultivation  had  been  offered  the  Society  by  Dr. 
Armstrong,  of  Park  Hill,  Platte  County,  Neb.  This 
venerable  man  had,  out  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart, 
gathered  into  his  home,  from  time  to  time,   fourteen 


270  Twenty  Years'  History 

homeless  waifs,  and  now  proposed  to  turn  over  his  es- 
tablishment, with  his  seven  boys,  to  the  Mothers' 
Jewels  Home. 

In  1889,  Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark  and  Mrs.  F.  A.  Aiken, 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  went  to  Nebraska  to  investi- 
gate. Their  recommendations,  confirmed  by  the  Board 
of  Managers  at  Indianapolis  in  October  of  that  year, 
resulted  in  the  sale  of  the  Park  Hill  property,  and  the 
purchase  of  a  fine  farm  with  good  buildings  near  York, 
Neb.,  the  residents  of  that  city  making  a  liberal  dona- 
tion of  ten  thousand  dollars.  In  two  months'  time  from 
the  receipt  of  the  deed,  the  Mothers'  Jewels  family, 
consisting  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Armstrong,  their  boys,  and 
a  Matron  and  assistant,  were  comfortably  domiciled 
in  the  pleasant  farmhouse  which  has  since  been  known 
as  "The  York  Cottage."  A  small  dormitory  was  added. 
In  April,  1891,  Mr.  Burwell  Spurlock  and  Mrs.  Spur- 
lock  were  put  in  charge,  and  closed  the  year  with  a 
family  of  thirty  children.  They  still  serve  the  Home 
as  its  efficient  Superintendents. 

As  other  homeless  ones  were  constantly  knocking 
at  its  doors,  only  to  fail  of  admission  for  lack  of  room, 
the  crying  need  of  the  work  became  the  erection  of 
the  long-promised  new  building.  In  1894  this  was 
begun,  and  in  1895,  though  unfinished,  was  partly 
occupied.  Though  it  is  a  ''beautful  Home"  in  more 
senses  than  one,  it  still  lacks  many  conveniences  and 


Work  in  Cities  271 

appliances  which  only  money  can  supply.  The  incom- 
ing- of  the  twentieth  century  found  the  faithful  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  this  Home,  Mrs.  Negus, 
pleading  for  funds  with  which  to  erect  an  additional 
west  wing,  which  was  needed. 

The  industrial  feature  has  been  emphasized  from 
the  first,  and  in  good  seasons  the  farm  contributes 
largely  to  the  support  of  the  Home  family,  the  boys, 
varying  in  age  from  seven  to  seventeen,  taking  their 
full  share  of  the  labor.  The  girls  are  trained  in  all 
household  industries,  dressmaking,  and  typewriting. 
The  older  children  attend  the  public  school  in  York, 
and,  as  this  is  about  one  mile  distant,  a  big  wagon  is 
brought  into  requisition,  and  Mr.  Spurlock  handles 
the  lines  over  his  spirited  horses  with  fatherly  pride 
in  the  precious  load  they  carry.  The  number  being  so 
large  in  recent  years,  the  first  five  grades  are  taught 
in  the  Home. 

The  religious  interests  of  this  large  home  circle 
are  zealously  looked  after.  A  Sunday-school  and  an 
Epworth  League  are  conducted  in  the  Home ;  many 
of  the  young  people  are  converted,  and,  being  carefully 
instructed,  are  baptized  and  taken  into  the  Church. 

The  average  Mothers'  Jewels  family  for  some  years 
has  numbered  from  forty-five  to  fifty-six,  some  coming 
in  and  others  going  out  continually.  A  considerable 
number  have  been  adopted  into  good  Christian  homes. 


272  Twenty  Years'  History 

as  many  as  forty  having  been  placed  in  a  single  year, 
and  some  have  gone  out  to  earn  a  livelihood  in  lines 
for  which  their  training  in  the  Home  had  prepared 
them.  Only  three  children  have  died,  a  remarkably 
small  death-rate  for  a  period  of  twelve  years.  Ninety- 
two  has  been  the  largest  number  enrolled  at  any  one 
time. 

The  management  is  believed  to  be  both  wise  and 
humane,  and  the  Superintendents  and  teachers  earnest 
and  consecrated  workers. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  Clark,  the  first  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Mothers'  Jewels  Home,  filled  the  position 
for  a  long  time  with  great  devotion.  To  make  its  work 
a  success  was  one  of  her  fondest  dreams.  One  who 
was  long  associated  with  her  in  this  work  says,  "In  a 
sense,  the  Mothers'  Jewels  Home  is  Mrs.  Clark's  monu- 
ment." 

Mrs.  J.  P.  Negus,  of  Iowa,  became  her  successor 
in  1896.  With  her  husband's  loyal  and  generous  help, 
she  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  the  Mothers'  Jewels 
Home.  Mrs.  Anna  Hobbs  Woodcock,  of  Nebraska, 
a  gifted  speaker,  has  served  the  cause  well  as  Assistant 
Chairman. 

WATTS  DE  PEYSTER  HOME 
At  Tivoli  on  the  Hudson,  ninety-nine  miles  north 
of  New  York  City,  is  the  Watts  de  Peyster  School  and 
Home  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  The 


Work  in  Cities  273 

building"  was  originally  intended  for  a  boarding-school, 
and  was  bought  by  General  John  Watts  de  Peyster 
and  presented  to  the  Society  to  be  used  as  an  Industrial 
School  and  Home  for  homeless  girls.  Though  an 
Episcopalian,  he  honored  in  this  way  his  Methodist 
ancestry,  making  it  a  memorial  of  his  mother  and  of 
her  father,  John  Watts.  It  is  a  magnificent  property, 
valued  at  sixty  thousand  dollars,  with  accommodations 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  inmates,  and  has  attached 
to  it  a  fruit-farm  of  nine  acres.  It  is  under  the  special 
care  of  the  New  York  Conference. 

It  was  opened  in  June,  1894,  with  nine  girls. 
Within  a  year  the  number  had  increased  to  forty.  The 
children  were  mostly  waifs  from  the  great  city.  From 
the  poorest  and  vilest  surroundings  they  were  trans- 
ported to  this  paradise  of  pure  air  and  sunshine,  of 
fruit  and  flowers ;  to  this  comfortable  and  well-ordered 
Home  with  its  atmosphere  of  love  and  its  discipline 
of  duty  and  service.  The  number  has  sometimes 
reached  seventy-five.  Boys  are  not  admitted  into  Watts 
de  Peyster  Home. 

Changes  and  improvements  have  from  time  to  time 
been  made  in  the  buildings  and  grounds,  which,  with 
the  needed  furnishings,  have  necessitated  constant  ex- 
pense; but  God  has  raised  up  many  friends  for  this 
institution,  and  has  blessed  it  with  prosperity.     At  the 

Annual  Meeting  of   icjoo,  at  Chicago,  the  Chairman, 
J9 


274  Twenty  Years'  History 

Mrs.  Morgan,  announced  a  bequest  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars  left  by  Mr.  William  L.  Hoge,  of  Montana. 
For  some  years  before  his  death  he  had  regularly  sup- 
ported six  girls  in  the  Home,  and  the  income  of  this 
bequest  will  maintain  ten.  This  gift  was  made  as  a 
memorial  of  his  excellent  wife. 

Founder's-day,  observed  in  June,  is  always  cele- 
brated with  enthusiasm,  and  at  the  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas  festivals  the  beautiful  ''Star-spangled  Ban- 
ner" floats  over  no  happier  assembly  than  the  Watts  de 
Peyster  family. 

General  de  Peyster,  the  founder,  who  is  described 
as  ''author,  soldier,  historian,  military  biographer,  and 
critic,"  gives  testimony  to  the  work  of  the  Home  in 
these  words: 

"Of  all  the  good  I  have  done,  or  attempted  to  do, 
at  such  large  expenditure  of  money,  I  can  truly  say 
that  it  has  always  been  a  subject  of  rejoicing  that  I 
gave  the  property  at  Tivoli  to  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  which  has  done  so  much,  indeed 
everything,  to  make  it  an  honor  to  the  locality  in  which 
it  is  situated,  and  a  grand  success  in  every  sense  of  the 
word.        Very  respectfully, 

"J.  Watts  du  Pkyster.'' 

Mr.  E.  F.  George  and  wife,  ucc  Miss  Johansen, 
of  the  Italian  Mission  in  New  York,  were  the  first 
Superintendents.     In  March,  1898,  Rev.  and  IMrs.  E. 


Work  in  Cities  275 

R.  Ackerly  succeeded  them.  Mrs.  F.  C.  Morgan,  of 
New  York,  has  been  the  devoted  Chairman  of  the 
Home  Committee  since  1898.  Many  destitute  and 
homeless  Httle  ones  rescued  from  evil  lives  and  brought 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord  will 
doubtless  rise  up  "in  that  day"  to  bless  her  and  her 
associate  workers. 

CUNNINGHAM  DF.ACONESS  HOMr:  AND  ORPHANAGE 

In  1895,  Judge  J.  O.  Cunningham  and  wife,  of 
Urbana,  HI.,  presented  to  the  Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Illinois  Conference  a  beautiful  resi- 
dence property,  with  ample  grounds  surrounding,  to 
be  used  as  a  Deaconess  Home  and  Orphanage.  This 
valuable  gift,  worth  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  was  for- 
mally dedicated  in  October  of  that  year,  Mrs.  Fisk,  the 
President  of  the  Society,  being  present  on  the  occasion, 
and  making  an  effective  address.  Mrs.  B.  S.  Potter, 
who  had  been  largely  instrumental  in  securing  the  do- 
nation and  the  necessary  furnishings,  "received  the 
keys  in  behalf  of  the  Society.''  The  Home  at  once  en- 
tered upon  its  beneficent  career.  Twenty-five  children 
were  sheltered  the  first  year,  thirty  the  second,  and 
thirty-eight  the  third. 

A  bequest  of  more  than  five  thousand  dollars  came 
to  the  Cunningham  Home,  in  1898,  from  j\Iiss  Hannah 
Johnson,  an  Episcopalian  lady  of  Champaign,  111.     In 


276  Twenty  Years'  History 

1900  two  large  additions  were  made  to  the  building, 
and  in  the  latter  year  eighty  children  were  reported  as 
inmates.  Four  deaconesses  are  usually  employed  in 
the  Home,  one  conducting  a  kindergarten  for  the  little 
ones.  In  other  lines  the  instruction  is  similar  to  that 
in  all  such  institutions,  the  children  being  sent  out  into 
permanent  homes  as  frequently  as  desirable  places  can 
be  secured  for  them. 

Mrs.  A.  W.  Conklin,  of  Decatur,  111.,  is  the  ener- 
getic and  efficient  Chairman. 

KUZABETII    A.   BRADLKY   HOME 
(Projected) 

At  the  eighteenth  Annual  Meeting,  held  in  Christ 
Church,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  October,  1899,  a  group  of  good 
women  whose  hearts  God  had  touched,  and  who  were 
allied  by  family  relationship  to  ]\Irs.  Elizabeth  A.  Brad- 
ley, deceased,  pledged  three  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars for  a  Children's  Home  to  bear  her  name  and  to 
be  located  at  Allegheny,  Pa.  At  the  New  York  Meet- 
ing, November,  1901,  Mrs.  P.  D.  Perchment,  daughter 
of  Mrs.  Bradley,  sent  up  a  pledge  to  the  Treasurer  for' 
three  thousand  dollars  for  the  projected  Home  *'in 
honor  of  the  dear  mother's  birthday." 

As  the  first  piece  of  furnishing  for  Bradley  Home, 
and  an  interesting  link  between  the  children  of  the 
East  and  the  children  of  the  far  Northwest,  a  patch- 


Work  in  Cities  277 

work  quilt  made  by  the  girls  in  the  Jesse  Lee  Home, 
Alaska,  was  presented  by  Mrs.  Beiler,  and,  being  pur- 
chased by  the  ladies  of  the  Convention  for  fifty  dollars 
(paid  into  the  Alaskan  Fund),  it  was  donated  to  the 
prospective  Elizabeth  Bradley  Memorial  Home. 

EDUCATIVE  MOVEMENTS 

Certain  phases  of  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society,  which  have  been  happily  char- 
acterized as  its  ''educational  by-products,"  deserve 
''honorable  mention"  in  this  history.  Under  this  head 
may  be  classified  "the  Home  ^lissionary  Reading 
Circle"  and  the  Department  of  "Systematic  Benefi- 
cence," each  of  which  has  grown  into  the  dignity  of 
a  Bureau  of  the  Society,  as  also  some  minor  accessories 
of  this  many-sided  philanthropy,  such  as  Mite-box 
Work,  the  annual  Thank-offering,  and  the  observance 
of  a  Day  of  Humiliation  and  Prayer. 

HOME  MISSIONARY  READING  CIRCLE 

This  department  was  inaugurated  in  1887  as  a 
national  Circle  somewhat  after  the  Chautauqua  plan. 
Mrs.  H.  E.  Doud,  of  Norfolk,  O.,  was  the  first  Secre- 
tary, and  probably  the  originator  of  the  scheme.  Cer- 
tainly its  success  for  a  number  of  years  was  largely 
due  to  her  broad  intelligence  and  enthusiasm  and 
energy.    Much  of  the  expense  of  the  preliminary  work, 


278  Twenty  Years'  History 

aside  from  the  liberal  concessions  of  the  Western  Book 
Concern,  was  defrayed  from  her  own  purse,  with  occa- 
sional assistance  from  generous  friends. 

The  object  of  the  Bureau  was  ''to  lay  before  its 
readers,  in  concise  form,  the  condition  and  needs  of 
our  country  in  a  sense  not  altogether  confined  to  mis- 
sionary lines."  Such  books  as  ''Our  Country,"  "A 
Century  of  Dishonor,"  "Alaska,"  "Modern  Cities," 
"The  Mormon  Problem,"  "Deaconesses,"  "The  New 
Era,"  "Our  Island  Empire,"  "The  Foundation  Rock," 
"Property  Consecrated,"  and  "Up  from  Slavery,"  have 
been  in  the  lists  of  the  "required  readings." 

The  first  year  the  plan  of  reading  was  formulated, 
circular  letters  were  sent  out,  arrangements  were  made 
with  publishers  by  which  readers  could  secure  the 
books  at  reduced  rates,  and  a  system  of  badges  was 
devised  by  means  of  which  proper  recognition  could 
be  given  to  those  completing  the  course  or  any  section 
of  the  course.  A  beautiful  banner  was  donated,  which 
is  every  year  taken  up  to  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
General  Board  of  Managers  and  assigned  to  the  Con- 
ference reporting  the  largest  number  of  readers ;  this 
is  then  held  in  trust  by  that  Conference  during  the 
year.  A  prize  of  twenty-five  dollars,  and  others  of 
similar  amounts,  were  ofifered  for  four  years  in  suc- 
cession to  the  Auxiliaries  leading  in  number  of  readers. 

Mrs.  Doud  resigned  in   1891,  and  was  succeeded 


Work  in  Cities  279 

by  Mrs.  W.  F.  McDowell,  who  served  one  year, 
when  the  Bureau  was  passed  over  to  Mrs.  J.  L.  Trisler, 
of  Hartwell,  O.,  who  for  eight  years  was  faithful  to 
this  trust. 

In  the  fall  of  1900,  Mrs.  Levi  Gilbert,  of  Madison- 
ville,  O.,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  Reading  Circles. 
Her  administration  of  the  office  has  been  characterized 
by  a  s)'stematic  attention  to  details  which  must  ensure 
encouraging  results. 

Aside  from  the  Secretaries,  probably  the  most  not- 
able contributor  to  the  success  of  this  Bureau  has 
been  Mrs.  T.  P.  Frost,  wdio  has  made  a  distinguished 
record  as  Secretary  of  Conference  and  local  Reading 

Circles. 

As  many  as  three  thousand  readers  have  been  re- 
ported in  a  given  year  as  claiming  membership  in  the 
Woman's  Home  ^lissionary  Reading  Circle.  Surely 
this  points  to  a  higher  intelligence,  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  perils  menacing  our  country,  and  loftier 
ideals  concerning  our  duties  as  citizens  and  Christians. 

SYSTEMATIC   BENEFICENCE 

The  organ  of  the  Society,  Womans  Home  Mis- 
sions, very  early  was  made  the  medium  through  which 
was  presented  to  its  readers  the  views  of  the  editor, 
Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe,  concerning  the  duty  of  observ- 
ing "Systematic   Beneficence."     She  had  long  enter- 


28o  Twenty  Years'  History 

tained  in  some  sacred  chamber  of  her  devout  soul  an 
exalted  conception  of  the  Christian's  obligation  to  give 
the  ''tenth  unto  God,"  a  conviction  which  no  cavils  of 
opposing  opinion  v^as  ever  able  to  dislodge.  Quietly 
and  persistently  holding  on  the  even  tenor  of  her  teach- 
ing on  this  subject,  gleaning  arguments  here  and  there 
from  pulpit  and  press  and  individual  testimony,  and 
encouragement  from  Doctors  of  Divinity  and  mild- 
mannered  Quakeresses  alike,  she  began  to  see  of  the 
fruit  of  her  labors  when,  in  1889,  the  General  Board 
of  Managers  voted  the  appointment  of  a  Standing 
Committee  on  Systematic  Beneficence.  For  two  years 
Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright  was  chairman  of  this  Committee. 
A  ''Sacred  Corner"  was  maintained  in  the  paper,  and 
tracts  and  circulars  were  distributed.  From  1892  to 
1897  Mrs.  James  Mather,  as  chairman,  devoted  much 
time  and  thought  to  the  work  of  the  Committee,  and  by 
earnest  precept  and  consistent  example  contributed  not 
a  little  to  the  general  growth  of  sentiment  and  con- 
viction in  favor  of  the  "tithe."  Since  1895  the  Com- 
mittee has  become  a  "Bureau,"  an  annual  report  is 
given  before  the  meeting  of  the  General  Board,  and 
a  register  is  kept  in  which  all  members  of  the  Society 
practicing  the  payment  of  the  "tenth"  are  invited  to 
record  their  names.  In  1897,  Mrs.  Samuel  Hamilton, 
of  Pittsburg,  was  appointed  Secretary,  and,  until  fail- 
ing health  in  1901  compelled  her  to  decline  the  service, 


Work  in  Cities  281 

she  was  constant  in  her  efforts  to  win  friends  for  the 
system.  Full  of  zeal  for  this  "Bihle  plan  of  religious 
finance,"  she  heautifully  illustrates  in  her  personal  ex- 
ample and  experience  the  blessedness  of  "paying  what 
we  owe  to  God." 

To  ]\Irs.  ]\I.  C.  Alspaugh,  of  Iowa,  was  assigned 
the  work  of  the  Bureau  after  Mrs.  Hamilton's  resig- 
nation. That  she  was  in  sympathy  with  its  aims  may 
be  inferred  from  the  sentiment  which,  at  the  Pitts- 
burg Annual  ]\Ieeting,  she  proposed  as  the  watch- 
word of  the  Society  for  all  future  time;  viz.,  "Let  us 
lay  our  tithe  beside  our  prayer,  'Thy  kingdom  come.'  " 

MITE-BOXES 

If  Mrs.  Dwight  has  been  named  the  "Queen 
Mother  of  the  Busy  Bees"  in  mite-box  work  for  the 
limited  area  of  New  England,  Mrs.  W.  M.  Ampt,  of 
Cincinnati,  had  long  before,  by  her  devotion  to  this 
department,  established  her  claim  to  the  larger  dis- 
tinction of  a  maternal  relation  toward  all  the  little  mite- 
gatherers  throughout  the  general  Society.  Succeed- 
ing Miss  Minnie  Bayliss  in  the  office,  she  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees  in  February,  1885,  and  has  faith- 
fully superintended  the  work  until  the  present  time. 
As  the  money  collected  by  these  gleaners  is  supposed 
to  be  sent  through  the  same  channels  as  other  funds 


282  Twenty  Years'  History 

to  the  General  Treasurer,  and  only  reports  of  the 
same  forwarded  to  Mrs.  Ampt  (which  has  not  always 
been  done),  no  exact  and  complete  account  of  any 
year's  work  has  ever  yet  been  tabulated ;  but  what  has 
been  put  upon  record  has  been  most  encouraging.  And 
if  the  hidden  page  of  many  a  heart  history  were  re- 
vealed, the  mite-box  in  the  home,  when  truly  conse- 
crated and  faithfully  used,  would  be  discovered  to  be 
a  perennial  means  of  grace.  The  mite  box  is  uncon- 
sciously the  wise  little  handmaiden  of  the  Bureau  of 
Systematic  Beneficence. 

As  indicating  the  growth  of  this  department,  we 
may  learn  by  selections  from  the  Annual  Reports  the 
following:  In  1888,  Mrs.  Ampt  records  two  hundred 
and  forty-seven  dollars  reported  from  the  Conferences ; 
in  1889,  one  thousand  dollars;  in  1895,  two  thousand 
nine  hundred  dollars;  and  in  1900,  eight  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  forty-six  dollars.  Since  1893  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  has  annually  appointed 
''Divisional  Mite-box  Secretaries,"  having  supervision 
of  large  sections,  each  embracing  a  number  of 
Conferences,  and  during  the  last  five  years  she  has 
been  able  to  say  with  truth,  "Very  few  Auxiliaries, 
Circles,  and  Bands  are  without  a  Mite-box  Secretary." 
To  this  carefully-planned  system  must  be  attributed 
the  fine  results  attained. 

In  1896-97  the  Jewel  Mite-boxes,  designed  for  the 


Work  in  Cities  283 

use  of  little  children,  were  introduced,  and  under  the 
care  of  Miss  Van  Alarter  have  given  an  additional 
impetus  to  this  beautiful  work. 

]\Irs.  Ampt,  who  was  in  the  second  year  of  the 
Society  made  one  of  the  twelve  Resident  Managers, 
has  also  done  it  good  service  from  year  to  }ear  as 
Railroad  Secretary,  by  securing  reduced  rates  for  those 
attending  the  Annual  Meetings. 

THE   THANK-OFFERING 

At  the  ninth  Annual  Meeting,  at  Buffalo,  1890, 
the  Recording  Secretary  brought  from  the  Board 
of  Trustees  a  recommendation  asking  that  ''a  day 
in  November  be  appointed  as  Thank-offering  Day," 
which  was  accepted  with  enthusiasm,  especially 
by  those  who  had  already  observed  such  a  day  in 
local  Auxiliaries  with  great  profit.  This  action  was 
in  reality  the  culmination  of  some  years  of  agitation 
on  the  subject  by  certain  members  of  the  Board.  Later, 
the  third  Thursday  in  the  month  of  our  National 
Thanksgiving  was  recommended,  but  not  made  obli- 
gatory;  and  the  practice  of  most  Societies  has  been 
to  hold  the  thank-offering  service  at  a  time  as  near 
to  that  date  as  may  be  convenient.  In  1893  a  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright,  Mrs.  H.  C. 
McCabe,  and  Mrs.  D.  L.  Williams,  was  appointed  to 
prepare  a  program  for  general  use  at  these  meetings. 


284  Twenty  Years'  History 

Since  1896,  and  including  that  year,  this  has  been 
done  by  Miss  Van  Marter  as  a  part  of  the  work  of 
the  Leaflet  Committee,  and  in  many  AuxiUaries  the 
celebration  of  the  day,  with  its  beautiful  "Praise  Serv- 
ice" and  its  ingathering  of  gifts  to  the  Lord's  treasury, 
has  become  the  event  of  the  year. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  was  ''the  pioneer"  in  introducing 
thank-offering  services  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  a  custom  that 
well  becomes  an  organization  which  stands  for  the 
highest  type  of  Christian  patriotism,  and  should  never 
be  allowed  to  fall  into  disuse. 

DAY  OF  HUMIUATION  AND  PRAYEiR 

The  name  of  Mrs.  J.  P.  Negus  stands  intimately 
associated  with  the  origin  of  the  observance  of  a  Day 
of  Humiliation  and  Prayer  in  connection  with  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  In  1892  a  num- 
ber of  Auxiliaries  in  her  Conference,  the  Northwest 
Iowa,  reported  such  meetings  as  "very  profitable  oc- 
casions." In  1893  this  same  Conference  sent  a  me- 
morial on  the  subject  to  the  General  Board  of  Man- 
agers, which  was  adopted,  and  Mrs.  Negus,  Mrs.  J.  I. 
Boswell,  and  Mrs.  M.  H.  Davis  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  devise  ways  and  means  of  increasing- 
interest  in  the  observance  of  the  day.      The  following 


Work  in  Cities  285 

year,  Mrs.  Negus,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee,  re- 
ported in  favor  of  a  general  call  to  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary Societies  of  all  evangelical  denominations  for 
concert  of  action  in  fixing  a  day  and  arranging  a 
suggestive  order  of  exercises  which  might  be  adopted 
by  all  co-operating  organizations.  The  last  Thursday 
in  February  has  been  the  day  chosen. 

Through  the  efTorts  of  this  Committee  the  Home 
Missionary  Societies  of  the  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  Con- 
gregational, United  Brethren,  Free  Baptist,  and  Chris- 
tian Churches  have,  with  more  or  less  regularity,  fallen 
into  line  with  the  movement.  The  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  through  Mrs.  Bishop  Hargrove, 
and  the  Friends  through  Mrs.  Esther  Pritchard,  have 
given  hearty  assent  and  approval.  In  1895  the  "Order 
of  Exercises"  for  the  day  was  prepared  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1896  of  the  Bap- 
tist, and  in  successive  years  by  representatives  of  other 
bodies.  Union  meetings  of  great  solemnity  and  power 
have  been  held  in  many  cities  and  towns,  in  which 
members  of  all  the  Churches  have  united  upon  the 
common  plane  of  confession  and  humiliation,  and  have 
engaged  in  earnest  prayer  for  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  upon  the  Church  and  the  Nation.  Self- 
denial  offerings  are  incidentally  called  for,  but  the 
special  mission  of  the  day  is  to  emphasize  the  great 
need  existing  for  the  purification  of  our  National  and 


286  Twenty  Years'  History 

social  life,  and  for  the  descent  of  Pentecostal  power 
upon  the  Churches. 

In  the  autumn  of  1897,  in  consequence  of  ]\Irs. 
Negus's  increasing  responsibilities  in  connection  with 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Mothers'  Jewels  Home  Com- 
mittee, Mrs.  M.  C.  Hickman  succeeded  her  as  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Day  of  Humiliation  and 
Prayer,  a  duty  which  she  has  most  effectively  dis- 
charged. 

committee:  on  missionary  candidates 

One  of  the  most  responsible  Committees  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  one  that  does 
its  important  work  out  of  the  sight  of  the  public,  is 
the  "Committee  on  Missionary  Candidates." 

The  painstaking  chairman  of  this  Committee  for 
many  years  has  been  Mrs.  William  Christie  Herron, 
of  Cincinnati.  She  was  made  one  of  the  "twelve 
resident  managers"  in  1886,  and  has  been  one  of  the 
five  Vice-Presidents  since  1896,  holding  first  place  in 
1898.  The  work  of  her  services  to  the  Board  in  Cin- 
cinnati and  to  the  Society  at  large  has  been  recognized 
by  her  continued  re-election  and  promotion  in  office. 


CHAPTER  VII 
CONCLUSION 

The  detailed  consideration  of  the  many  depart- 
ments of  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary 
Society  comprehended  under  the  heads  of  the  various 
Bureaus  has  made  it  necessary  in  these  ''chapters" 
to  drop  the  thread  of  continuous  history.  After  hav- 
ing given  a  brief  account  of  the  first  few  years  of 
the  Society's  existence,  no  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole 
work  at  any  given  period  has  been  attempted.  From 
the  time  when  it  began  "Branching  out"  (Chapter  III), 
we  have  endeavored  to  follow  separately  each  dis- 
tinct line  of  missionary  effort,  showing  its  incipiency, 
its  progress,  and  its  present  state  of  development. 

Some  events  of  a  general  character  which  trans- 
pired during  the  second  decade  of  the  history  of  the 
Society  should  now  be  made  matters  of  record. 

CONFERENCE   UNIONS 

As  has  been  stated  in  Chapter  I,  the  constitution 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  is  without 
a  counterpart  elsewhere  in  Methodism.     It  was  organ- 

287 


288  Twenty  Years'  History 

ized  with  a  President,  Treasurer,  Corresponding  and 
Recording  Secretaries,  five  Vice-Presidents,  and  twelve 
Managers,  constituting  a  General  Board  of  Trustees, 
with  headquarters  at  Cincinnati.  Upon  this  Board 
devolved  the  burden  of  administering  the  affairs  of 
the  Society,  except  as  advised  and  instructed  by  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers.  As  the 
work  developed,  the  responsibilities  of  these  ladies  in- 
creased, and  rumors  began  to  be  heard  of  a  move- 
ment designed  to  relieve  the  congestion  at  headquarters 
and  to  distribute  the  responsibility  of  administration 
among  the  Conferences.  As  early  as  1885,  at  the 
Philadelphia  Annual  Meeting,  Mrs.  Davis  pleaded 
earnestly  for  ''measures  of  relief." 

At  the  eleventh  Annual  Meeting,  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  in  October,  1892,  a  public  session  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  was  announced  by  the  President,  Mrs. 
Davis,  to  which  all  the  Conference  Corresponding 
Secretaries,  delegates,  and  visitors  were  invited.  This 
was  an  informal  mass  meeting,  and  was  thrown  open 
for  full  and  free  discussion.  To  this  meeting  was  pre- 
sented a  recommendation  which  had  been  adopted  by 
the  Board  at  Cincinnati,  October  3d,  which  read  as 
follows : 

''Resolved,  i.  That  we  recommend  the  grouping 
of  the  Conference  organizations  of  our  Society  in 
divisions  similar  to  the  districts  of  the  General  Mis- 


Conclusion  289 

sionary  Society,  these  groups  to  be  made  centers  of 
interest,  duty,  and  responsibility. 

"2.  That  these  divisions  be  so  organized  as  to 
enHst  more  fully  the  women  in  each  division  for  the 
work." 

After  discussion,  a  ''Special  Committee  on  Division 
of  the  Work"  was  appointed,  consisting  of  the  four 
general  officers  and  twenty-one  ladies  representing  the 
field  at  large,  which,  after  four  days'  deliberation, 
brought  in  a  report  in  favor  of  adopting  the  original 
recommendation.  The  plan  thus  formulated  proposed 
that  these  groups  be  called  Conference  Unions,  and 
that  each  Union  be  organized  with  Constitution  and 
By-laws  modeled  after  those  already  in  force  in  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  To  each  Con- 
ference Union  was  to  be  allotted  the  duty  of  promot- 
ing the  work  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety within  its  bounds,  increasing  interest,  multiply- 
ing organizations,  and  securing  funds.  Annual  meet- 
ings were  to  be  held,  and  full  reports  of  the  combined 
work  of  the  Conferences  comprised  in  the  Union  were 
to  be  forwarded  to  the  general  officers  of  the  Society, 
instead  of  the  detailed  individual  report  from  each 
Conference,  as  had  previously  been  done.  This,  it 
was  argued,  would  enlist  a  larger  number  of  women 
throughout  the  Conferences,  create  new  centers  of  in- 
terest, and  lessen  the  labors  of  the  general  officers. 


290  Twenty  Years'  History 

The  rcpoi't  of  this  Committee  was  adopted,  not 
unanimously,  then  reconsidered,  and  an  amendment  at- 
tached ordering  the  report  to  be  printed  and  sent  down 
to  the  Conference  Societies  for  consideration,  and  that 
final  action  be  deferred  till  the  next  Annual  Meeting. 
All  conceded  the  wisdom  of  such  an  amendment,  when 
so  radical  a  measure,  involving  ultimately  a  change 
in  Constitution,  was  under  consideration. 

During  the  ensuing  year  the  circular,  signed  by 
Mrs.  Rust  "in  behalf  of  the  Board,"  was  so  distrib- 
uted, and  presumably  conscientiously  deliberated  upon 
by  the  Conference  Societies  throughout  the  Church. 
At  the  next  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Toledo,  Ohio, 
October,  1893,  a  paper,  entitled  ''Proposed  Constitu- 
tion for  Conference  Unions,"  was  presented,  also  com- 
ing from  the  Board  of  Trustees.  In  the  order  of 
business,  it  was  moved  ''that  the  consideration  of  the 
matter  of  Conference  Unions  be  referred  to  the  Fi- 
nance Committee."  This  was  done,  and  the  outcome 
of  the  prolonged  discussions  which  took  place  in  that 
body,  sitting  as  a  "Committee  of  the  Whole,"  appears 
upon  the  Minutes  in  a  resolution  recommending  the 
appointment  of  a  Committee  of  nine  ladies,  "to  report 
to  the  next  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers 
a  plan  for  Conference  Unions."  The  Committee  so 
appointed  was  composed  as  follows :  Mrs.  Clinton  B. 
Fisk,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Rust,  Mrs.  C.  L.  Roach,  Mrs.  T.  L. 


Conclusion  291 

Tomkinson,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Orccn,  Mrs.  J.  P.  Negus,  Mrs. 
D.  L.  Brown,  and  Mrs.  L.  P.  Williams.  Later,  when 
Mrs.  Fisk  had  been  elected  President  of  the  Society, 
she  asked  to  be  relieved,  and  Mrs.  T.  L.  Tomkinson 
was  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  chairman  of 
the  Committee,  and  Mrs.  E.  L.  Albright  was  added 
to  fill  the  vacancy. 

Thus  a  third  time  was  the  matter  remanded  to  a 
Committee,  which  reported  to  the  thirteenth  Annual 
Meeting,  at  Williamsport,  Pa.,  October,  1894.  The 
debate  upon  the  subject  was  of  absorbing  interest. 
Among  tho^e  favorable  to  the  proposed  change  were 
Mrs.  T.  L.  Tomkinson,  the  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee; Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe,  Mrs.  B.  S.  Potter,  and 
Mrs.  J.  P.  Negus.  Mrs.  Clara  L.  Roach,  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  brought  in  a  minority  report,  and  led 
a  vigorous  opposition.  As  the  plan,  if  approved,  would 
lead  to  a  change  in  the  Constitution,  a  two-thirds  vote 
was  required.  The  motion  to  adopt  the  majority  re- 
port being  put  upon  its  passage,  was  lost  by  a  vote 
of  forty-five  to  twenty-one.  Thus  after  two  years  of 
thorough  agitation  by  members  of  the  Society  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  having  been  at  three  Annual 
Meetings  of  the  General  Board  of  Managers,  ''the 
most  important  subect  under  consideration,"  the  pro- 
posed readjustment  of  the  work  by  means  of  Confer- 
ence Unions  was  finally  abandoned. 


292  Twenty  Years'  History 

The  impartial  student  of  this  episode  in  the  history 
of  the  organization  will  doubtless  arrive  at  conclusions 
something-  like  the  following : 

The  movement  did  not  originate  with  a  disaf- 
fected few,  but  twice  came  to  the  highest  legislative 
body  of  the  Society,  the  General  Board  of  Managers, 
as  a  recommendation  from  the  Board  of  Trustees.  A 
considerable  proportion  of  the  membership  of  the  So- 
ciety loyally  responded  to  the  impression  thus  received 
that  some  change  was  imminent  and  necessary. 

As  time  went  on  it  became  apparent  that  the  Board 
of  Trustees  was  not  a  unit  in  desiring  the  change,  and 
that  an  increasing  number  in  that  body  were  disin- 
clined to  welcome  Conference  Unions.  Then  an  ap- 
prehension arose  that  this  ''additional  agency"  inter- 
posed between  the  Conference  Societies  and  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  without  the  power  to  eliminate  any  of  the 
existing  machinery  of  the  Society,  might  prove  an 
unwarrantable  incumbrance.  There  might  be  division 
of  work ;  there  could  be  no  considerable  division  of 
responsibility,  for  responsibility  must  rest  where  exec- 
utive functions  reside. 

The  time  and  thought  given  to  the  agitation  and 
deliberation  connected  with  this  movement  show  ad- 
mirable caution  and  wisdom  on  the  part  of  the  women 
of  the  Society. 

Some  good  results  may  be  traced  in  part  to  this 


Conclusion  293 

agitation.     There  has  been  less  concentration  at  head- 
quarters.     Managers   from    dififerent   sections   of  the 
country  have  been  given  a  place  in  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees and  the  Advisory   Board.     The   President,   since 
1893,  has  been  a  representative  woman  from  the  East, 
and  not  more  than  two  of  the  four  general  officers 
have  been  at  any  time  residents  of  Cincinnati.     The 
Bureaus    have    been    clothed    with    enlarged    powers. 
Even  before  the  special  legislation  in  their  favor,  which 
was  made  possible  by  the  permission  of  the  General 
Conference  of   1900  to  revise  the   Constitution,   they 
had  become  actual  and  potential  factors  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  work.     Since  then  they  have  been  in- 
vested   with    an    authority    commensurate    with    their 
labors  and  responsibilities.     And  lastly,  in  some  sec- 
tions of  the  country,  the  informal  grouping  of  con- 
tiguous Conferences  into  Annual  Conventions,  for  the 
dissemination  of  information  and  creation  of  interest, 
has  proved  a  decided  success  and  a  power  for  good. 

NEW   CONSTITUTION 

As  the  years  went  by  a  need  became  apparent  for 
some  changes  in  the  Constitution.  The  swaddling 
clothes  of  the  infant  were  not  well  adapted  to  the 
vigorous  movements  of  the  great  and  growing  Society. 
Among  the  harrassing  limitations  of  this  earlv  Con- 
stitution was  its  failure  to  assign  to  the  Bureau  Secre- 


294  Twenty  Years'  History 

taries  any  constitutional  rights  in  the  General  Board 
of  Managers.  They  had  by  courtesy  been  granted  a 
seat  and  a  voice  in  its  deliberations,  but  were  not  en- 
titled to  a  vote.  The  same  was  true  of*  the  Associate 
Managers  (an  Advisory  Board  of  seven  members, 
whose  assistance  had  been  found  invaluable  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees  in  Cincinnati),  the  General  Organ- 
izers, the  chairmen  of  Standing  Committees,  and  the 
editors  and  publishers  of  the  periodicals  of  the  So- 
ciety. Among  these  persons  were  women  holding 
positions  of  such  trust  and  responsibility  as  entitled 
them,  in  the  estimation  of  the  rank  and  file,  to  stand 
upon  a  plane  of  privilege  not  lower  than  the  highest. 
It  was  held  that  to  these  should  be  given  the  right 
not  only  to  a  seat  and  a  voice  in  the  General  Board  of 
Managers,  but  to  a  vote  as  well. 

Some  minor  amendments  in  Conference  organiza- 
tion were  also  deemed  desirable,  and  many  verbal 
changes  were  needed  in  the  instrument. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1895,  at  Columbus,  O., 
a  revised  constitution  was  drafted,  to  be  submitted 
to  the  ensuing  General  Conference  of  May,  1896.  This 
was  reported  upon  favorably  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence Committee,  to  which  it  was  referred,  but  failed, 
by  an  oversight  in  the  rush  of  business  at  the  close,  to 
be  voted  upon.  Consequently  it  was  laid  over  until 
the  General   Conference  of   1900,   when   a  resolution 


Conclusion  295 

was  adopted  authorizing  the  Woman's  Home  i\lis- 
sionary  Society  "to  revise  its  Constitution,  with  the 
exception  of  Article  VII,  'relating  to  other  branches 
of  Church  work.'"  In  New  York,  November,  1901, 
at  the  twentieth  Annual  Meeting,  the  desired  action 
was  consummated  and  the  new  Constitution  approved. 

PERSONAL  FACTORS 

While  the  purpose  of  the  historian  has  been  the 
recording  of  events,  rather  than  the  portrayal  of  char- 
acter, not  a  little  of  the  interest  of  the  narrative  has 
doubtless  been  due  to  the  glimpses  incidentally  af- 
forded of  the  noble  women  who  have  been  the  makers 
of  the  history.  Only  glimpses  have  been  possible; 
many  have  been  but  casually  mentioned  in  connection 
with  their  specific  lines  of  work,  some  by  reason  of 
the  very  ubiquity  of  their  usefulness,  not  being  iden- 
tified with  any  particular  enterprise,  have  not  even 
been  named ;  a  few  who  have  filled  responsible  offices 
have  been  accorded  a  larger  recognition,  while  per- 
haps none  have  received  the  full  meed  of  praise  their 
services  have  richly  deserved.  Their  record  is  on 
high.  What  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
is,  these  and  such  as  they  have  made  it. 

Of  the  honorable  twenty-one  who  constituted  the 
first  General  Executive  Board  (then  so  called,  but 
later  named,  conformable  to  State  law,  the  "Board  of 


296  Twenty  Years'  History 

Trustees  "),  only  three  names  are  to  be  found  in  the 
official  director}^  of  both  1881  and  1901,  These  are 
Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt,  Mrs.  J.  L.  Whetstone,  and  Mrs. 
Bishop  Walden. 

Although  not  a  ''charter  member,"  no  name  more 
justly  deserves  a  place  near  the  head  of  the  list  than 
that  of  Mrs.  F.  A.  Aiken,  who  in  November,  1883, 
was  elected  Recording  Secretary,  and  who  continues 
in  the  position  at  the  date  of  this  publication.  At 
twenty  successive  Annual  Meetings  some  temporarily 
appointed  "Recording  Secretary"  has  ''cast  the  ballot 
of  the  Convention"  for  Mrs.  Aiken,  and  for  nineteen 
years  her  care  has  been  the  records  of  the  Society. 
While  she  has  been  an  invaluable  factor  in  the  conduct 
of  the  meetings,  most  of  her  work  has  been  done  not 
in  the  public  eye.  Having  her  residence  at  Cincinnati, 
and  convenient  to  Headquarters,  she  has  been  available 
all  these  years  for  countless  services,  which  have  been 
as  freely  given  as  they  have  been  little  understood  by 
the  outside  membership.  Patient,  accurate,  laborious, 
Mrs.  Aiken  has  been  a  model  Recording  Secretary. 

Twice  in  the  history  of  these  twenty  years  has 
the  highest  seat  in  the  gift  of  the  organization  been 
made  vacant  by  death.  On  June  25,  1889,  the  hon- 
ored and  well-beloved  first  President,  Mrs.  Ruther- 
ford B.  Hayes,  passed  into  the  beyond,  and  a  little 


Conclusion  297 

more  than  three  years  later,  February,  1893,  her  asso- 
ciate and  worthy  successor,  Mrs.  John  Davis,  laid 
down  with  her  life  her  zealous  labors  for  the  cause 
she  loved.  Into  the  breach  thus  made  stepped  the 
First  Vice-President,  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hoyt,  and  during 
the  interim  before  the  next  Annual  Meeting  she  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  the  President's  office  with  such 
success  as  confirmed  her  previous  reputation  for  su- 
perior intellectual  force  and  executive  ability.  For 
twelve  consecutive  years,  by  the  voluntary  suffrages 
of  her  Sisters,  her  name  had  stood  next  to  that  of 
Mrs.  Davis  on  the  official  roster.  This  was  but  a  just 
tribute  to  her  valuable  services.  She  was  truly  "one 
of  the  founders"  of  the  Society,  one  of  the  framers 
of  the  original  Constitution,  and  one  of  those  who  held 
a  strong  and  steady  hand  upon  the  helm  in  the  days 
when  the  little  craft  was  dashing  about  in  the  shallows 
of  its  early  history.  With  the  eye  of  a  seer  she  had 
divined  the  place  of  the  new  Society  in  the  connec- 
tional  sisterhood,  and  when  the  Freedmen's  Aid  So- 
ciety and  the  General  Missionary  Society  had  each 
in  turn  seemed  destined  to  absorb  it  into  these  already 
existing  organizations,  her  obstinate  resistance  to  what 
she  clearly  perceived  to  be  a  mistaken  policy  saved 
the  day  and  rescued  the  Society  from  the  thraldom 
which  threatened  it. 


298  Twenty  Years'  History 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  after  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Davis,  1893,  Mrs.  CHnton  B.  Fisk  was  elected 
President. 

No  name  in  American  Methodism  has  been  more 
highly  honored  or  more  universally  beloved  than  that 
of  the  distinguished  layman,  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk. 
Always  "the  friend  of  God's  poor,"  he  believed  en- 
tirely in  the  mission  of  the  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  Whether  when  called  at  times  of 
perplexity  into  its  inner  councils,  he  gave  of  the  strong 
meat  of  his  ripened  wisdom,  or  when  before  the  public 
with  his  matchless  eloquence  and  contagious  enthu- 
siasm at  its  service,  he  was  ever  one  of  its  best  friends 
and  ablest  defenders. 

In  1890  the  good  General  died.  Almost  his  last 
public  work,  in  company  with  his  wife,  was  in  behalf 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  His  de- 
voted companion,  though  shaken  as  a  reed  by  the 
wind,  did  not  sink  beneath  her  loss,  but  "strong  in 
the  strength  which  God  supplies"  went  bravely  forth 
to  perpetuate  his  philanthropies  and  to  do  her  share 
of  his  unfinished  work.  When,  in  October,  1893,  at 
the  Annual  Meeting  at  Toledo,  O.,  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  found  itself  again  without  a  head, 
it  was  Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Fisk  who  was  selected  to  be 
its  standard-bearer.  Surely  the  choice  was  guided 
by  the  unerring  finger  of  a  wise  Providence.    A  repre- 


Conclusion  299 

sentative  woman  of  the  East,  as  her  predecessors  had 
been  of  the  Middle  West,  and  widel}^  known  in  the 
Church,  Mrs.  Fisk  has  proved  to  be  a  tower  of  strength 
to  the  Society.  Staunch  and  true,  and  characterized 
by  marked  individuahty,  she  is  not  a  mere  reflection 
of  her  distinguished  husband.  Her  administration  of 
the  office  to  which  she  has  been  called,  and  the  beauty 
of  her  personal  character,  lend  additional  luster  to  the 
name  she  bears.  Abundant  in  resources,  of  ready  wit, 
an  indefatigable  worker,  and  endowed  with  an  in- 
domitable perseverance,  and  yet  withal  devout  and 
tender,  the  Society  has  had  no  more  acceptable  and 
efficient  President.  The  years  of  her  incumbency  have 
been  years  of  increase. 

But  no  personality  has  been  such  a  potential  factor 
in  the  history  of  the  Woman's  Home  Misionary  So- 
ciety as  that  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  L.  Rust.  A  wonderful 
life — it  runs  like  a  thread  of  gold  through  almost 
twenty  years  of  the  Society's  existence.  As  it  was 
her  hand  which  largely  guided  in  the  plastic  begin- 
nings of  the  organization,  so  her  views  continued  to 
shape  its  policy,  her  voice  to  direct  in  its  councils. 
She  loved  it  as  she  loved  her  life.  For  three  years 
she  fought  with  grim  disease,  and  held  the  fell  de- 
stroyer at  bay  while  she  still  wrought  on  with  tire- 
less devotion  to  the  cause  she  held  so  dear.  Then  the 
shadow  descended  which  hid  her  from  mortal  eyes. 


300  Twenty  Years'  History 

On  October  3,  1899,  the  honored  first  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Lownes  Rust,  passed  into  the  unseen 
Hfe.     Her  works  do  follow  her. 

The  royal  proclamation,  "The  king  is  dead;  long 
live  the  king!"  condenses  into  an  aphorism  the  na- 
tural sequence  of  human  events.  The  workers  die ; 
the  work  goes  on.  We  fill  the  gaping  grave  with  the 
fragrant  flowers  of  memory,  then  turn  to  the  living 
to  weave  fresh  chaplets  for  the  brow  of  the  coming 
conqueror.  The  chariot  that  bears  away  our  Elijah 
sweeps  by,  and  some  startled  Elisha  is  already  adjust- 
ing the  mantle  which  the  Hand  of  Destiny  has  flung 
upon  his  shoulders.  It  is  God's  plan.  Let  us  rejoice 
that  an  Elisha  is  always  provided  for  the  hour  of  need. 

At  the  eighteenth  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.,  October,  1899,  two  weeks  after  Mrs.  Rust's 
departure,  the  vacant  place  was  filled  by  the  election 
of  Mrs.  Delia  Lathrop  Williams,  of  Delaware,  O.  On 
the  same  day,  Mrs.  George  H.  Thompson,  of  Cincin- 
nati, O.,  was  chosen  to  succeed  Mrs.  Williams  as 
General  Treasurer.  Both  Mrs.  Williams  and  Mrs. 
Thompson  have  been  for  many  years  active  workers 
in  the  Society.  The  latter  was  made  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  in  1889,  and  has  filled  many 
offices  of  trust.  Her  work  as  General  Treasurer  has 
been  beyond  praise. 


Conclusion  301 

Mrs.  Williams,  although  not  a  charter  member, 
may  well  be  ranked  among  *'the  founders."  She  it 
was  who  led  the  opening  devotions  of  the  first  Annual 
Meeting.  It  was  she  who  went  with  Mrs.  Rust  to 
visit  distant  Conferences  in  the  early  days  when  the 
audiences  that  greeted  them  often  looked  coldly  on 
the  new  organization  as  an  unwelcome  innovation, 
and  her  clear  reasoning  and  skillful  putting  of  the 
case  many  times  helped  to  win  for  it  a  favorable  hear- 
ing. Through  all  these  years  her  work  for  the  So- 
ciety has  been  of  incalculable  value.  A  woman  of 
brains  and  culture,  of  breadth  and  sweetness,  progess- 
ive  and  yet  careful,  an  all-round,  symmetrical  Chris- 
tian character,  God  has  given  to  the  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  Society  in  its  second  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary one  in  every  way  worthy  to  wear  the  mantle 
of  the  lamented  leader,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Rust. 

The  historian  finds  a  little  rill  among  the  far-away 
mountain  ferns,  follows  it  down  through  valley  and 
plain,  and  sees  it  broaden  into  a  great  river.  It  cuts 
through  barriers  and  sweeps  away  obstacles,  and, 
gathering  force  and  volume  as  it  advances,  behold ! 
it  bears  upon  its  bosom  the  freightage  of  the  years — 
rich  argosies  of  noble  deeds  and  grand  enterprises. 
Before  it  lies  the  dim  ocean  of  futurity,  and  beyond, 
the  infinite  ages  of  God. 


1    1012  01233   7749 


DATE  DUE 

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